


Runaway Gay

by WuvWinchesterHugs



Series: Crossovers [10]
Category: Days of Our Lives, Runaway Bride (1999)
Genre: M/M, Newspapers, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 25,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21514297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WuvWinchesterHugs/pseuds/WuvWinchesterHugs
Summary: Typically, a runaway bride is a term used to describe a woman who has been engaged more than twice before, but for whatever reason never made it to the altar. But here, it's taken literally. Except it's a groom, and the groom in question gets all the way to the altar, and then runs, leaving the groom to be in the dust. A reporter writes a story about this groom, and goes to the town to get the real scoop on the groom, who is currently planning the next wedding. But as the wedding gets closer, the reporter discovers there's more to the groom, and the groom discovers he might be marrying the wrong guy.
Relationships: Abigail Deveraux/Chad DiMera, Brian/Sonny Kiriakis, Derrick/Paul Narita, Gabi Hernandez/Tad Stevens, Sonny Kiriakis/Neil Hultgren, Sonny Kiriakis/Original Male Character(s), Sonny Kiriakis/Paul Narita, Will Horton/Sonny Kiriakis
Series: Crossovers [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1542751
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10
Collections: WilSon





	1. Sunday Papers

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually a fic I've already written, but is being rewritten specifically for a Will and Sonny fic.

Three Dots and a Dash is fairly busy, with only one guy at the bar, drinking his sorrows away. At the same time, Will Horton is trying to come up with a story for his newspaper column, while a guy tries to start up a conversation with him.

“So what's in store for tomorrow's column, William Horton?” he asks, while simultaneously throwing a dart at the board.

Will admits, “Not quite sure. Inspiration doesn't usually strike on a routine basis.”

The guy gets a funny look on his face, and after throwing another dart, tells him what's what,

“This is very interesting. You get your ideas for your column from life. You start up a conversation with someone in a bar, and try and get a rise out of them while you contemplate whether or not they're worth hitting on.”

Will argues, “No, I can't hit on you till I have a story.”

The guy throws another dart, then says, “Oh there's the world's best pick-up line right there.”

Will tries to cover, “No you don't get it.”

The guy throws his last dart, then gives him one last lecture, “Actually, I do. So my not responding to your baiting me will inspire one of those potential bitter diatribes you love to write about humanity?”

Will has to defend himself here, “I don't write bitter diatribes about humanity... lately.”

The guy smacks him on the shoulder, informs him, “Well, it was very nice to meet you, one-minute-man.” and exits the bar.

Will can't think of anything else to say, other than, “It's last-minute-man. And who cares, long as the writing is good?”

This seems to be an invite for the guy at the bar to pipe up, “I've seen worse.”

Will looks down at the magazine the guy left behind, hoping to get some sort of idea for his next article.

Seeing he's being ignored, the guy at the bar repeats himself moving closer to Will, “I said, I've seen worse.”

Will looks at him warily, not sure why this guy is bothering him. “Excuse me?”

“The brush-off.” The man clarifies, nodding at the door. “Least he was nice enough to do it in the privacy of a bar.”

Will goes to pull out the darts, “Not so private, if you heard it.”

Will sets the darts down on the counter, pulling up a napkin to write on, while the guy picks up a few darts and starts throwing them one by one.

“If you ask me, humanity needs to be reminded of its wickedness once in a while. Humans love, they hate, they're hot, they're cold, high, low…”

Will picks up where he leaves off, “Up, down. You know, this is fun and all, but I need to focus on my next story.”

But whoever this guy is, he's not letting up, “But you haven't really written about anything seriously superb. There's this guy from my town you could write about.”

Will goes to pay the bartender, saying, “Thanks, but I don't need any superb ideas.”

The man continues, “This guy likes to dump his fiances right at the altar. They call him the Runaway Gay.”

Now he's got Will's attention. After paying, he turns back to the guy.

“He’s done it at least 7 or 8 times. Second he's at the altar, he turns right around and makes a run for it. Just gone like a puff of smoke.”

Will heads for the door, but this guy isn't finished,

“Runs like hell, not caring who he knocks out of the way. Like he couldn't get out of it fast enough. And that's not the worst part. Any idea what that could be?”

Will rolls his eyes, playing along, “I have no idea.”

“He's already got his next casualty planned. Sacrifice fit for a king.”

And that's when Will decides it's as good a story as any. He sits back down at the bar, pumping him for information.

By the time he's finished, Will has a brand new story all dressed up and ready for the paper.


	2. Read it in the Tabloids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The following day, the story is printed, and many people are as intrigued as promised.

It's many hours later when Will finally comes back to his apartment, ready to sit as his computer and write this article he is sure to be an absolute masterpiece.

“Alright, here we go.” He says to himself before he finally begins to type.

The following day, the story is printed, and many people are as intrigued as promised.

"Today is a day of profound introspection, I have been accused of using this column to direct bitter diatribes at humanity! This uncomfortable accusation has plunged me into at least fifteen minutes of serious reflection, from which I have emerged with the conclusion that, yes-- I traffic in stereotypes.”

Will's friend, T, walks and reads at the same time,

"But how can one blame me when every time I step out my front door I meet fresh proof that archetypes are alive and well? The mother, the asshole, the whore, the master manipulator; they're elbowing you in the subway, slamming the door in your faces, overwhelming you with perfume in elevators."

The newspaper's receptionist, Elaine, picks up as T walks up to her,

"But perhaps I should broaden my horizon and add some new Gods and goddesses to the pantheon: I would like to nominate for deity..."

Then T takes the story back,

“... The cheerleader, the coed, and the heartbreaker, the last of which concerns me most today."

Elsewhere, the man that gave Will the story reads out loud as he takes his seat at the bar,

“To be fair, the heartbreaker isn't exactly new. In Ancient Greece, this fearsome foe is known as Zeus, leader and father of all gods. In India, it's Kali, who likes to devour her boyfriend Shiva's entrails while her yoni devour his -- dot dot dot, never mind. In Indonesia, this angry little Earthshaker is called Indo' Ongon-Ongon…”

The man stops here to note, “Weird. Why does he only use countries without cable?” before he continues,

“And in Salem, Illinois, where he runs his own coffee shop, his name is Sonny Kiriakis, aka the Runaway Gay.”

All the way in Salem, two men walk across the street to the mechanic shop while also reading the article,

“‘What is unusual about Mr. Kiriakis is that he likes to dress his fiances up as grooms before he devours them. He's already disemboweled six in a row by leaving them at the altar.’” but then, the one reading, Chad, stops. “I can't keep reading this garbage.”

Mr. Pressman, the other man, takes the paper and picks up where Chad left off,

“‘And his ritual feast continues as he's currently preparing to make a sacrifice out of lucky number 7. So all bets are on and we hope that this boomerang groom isn't honeymooning with Las Vegas odds makers, because they'd all bet on him out of there before the rice hits the ground.’ Shit. It's worse than I thought.”

Then, they enter the shop, arguing over who should point this out to Sonny, who’s currently handling a customer.

“You tell Sonny.” “No, you tell him.” “You're his best friend.” “No.”

Mr. Pressman looks at the article again, and says, “Maybe he hasn't seen it yet?” but it's wishful thinking, and they know it.

And they're proven right, as they see another copy of the paper right on the counter, article in plain view.

“Or not.”

They wait in silence for a few minutes as Sonny finishes up with the customers, and when he walks back towards the front, he sees the two of them, staring at him with the saddest look he's ever seen on their faces.

“What?”

Somehow, Chad manages to muster up some courage he doesn't really feel, and cautiously says,

“So, Sonny. You've seen this, huh?”

Sonny, however is confused, “Yeah, I've seen it. Gotta say, this is seriously the most messed up, lewd, joke anyone has ever pulled!”

Both Mr. Pressman and Chad are surprised how well Sonny is taking this, even with a genuine smile on his face.

“How long did it take you two to pull this off? What strings did you pull?”

They're both still stunned, only now just realizing Sonny apparently hasn't realized this is a real article.

“I should seriously ban you two from the wedding. But why did you guys say seven? Everyone knows it's only the fourth.”

Finally, Chad has to tell him the truth,

“Um, Sonny, you said no bachelor jokes, so we didn't…”

At first, Sonny can't process what Chad just said. He looks at the paper again, and does his universal test for real newspapers. Real ones smear the ink. With one finger, he swipes the page, and when the words do indeed smear, leaving some residue on his finger, that's when it finally sinks in.

“Holy shit.” Sonny says, the air in his lungs suddenly leaving him.

His friends are quick to grab him, helping him to relax until he feels well enough to head home.

The time home is spent punching a punching bag, taking out all his frustrations on it, until he feels like all of it has left him temporarily.

Okay. Damage control. Sonny sits down at his desk, pulls up his laptop, and begins to draft a letter.

William Horton, meet Sonny Kiriakis.


	3. Billie Jean

_ "Dear Editor, _

_ Greetings from Salem! Perhaps you believe that a small town mostly concerns itself with the town bake sale, or the next PTA meeting. Why else would you print a piece of fiction about me and call it fact? I suppose Mr. Horton was too busy thinking up slanderous statements about how I dump my fiances for kicks to bother with something silly like accuracy in reporting. Which is understandable, because with a heartbreaker like me on the loose, who has time to check facts? Still, we cannibalistic types can get pretty cranky when we see things in print that tear us apart, like that we deliberately abandon fiances with malice. That's why I was surprised to find Mr. Horton's editor was a woman. Call me a sap, but I sort of hoped that upon seeing such a story, you'd know immediately that this wasn't a good idea.” _

Above is the letter that Gabi Hernandez, editor of the newspaper Will works for, receives in the mail from Sonny Kiriakis.

As Will comes into Gabi’ office and sits down, Gabi finishes reading the letter,

“Anyway, I'm just dropping you big city folk this little note to say that I have thought of a ritual sacrifice that would satisfy my current appetite: William Horton's column on a platter. Yours truly, Sonny Kiriakis P.S. -- I have enclosed a list of the gross factual misrepresentations in your article. There are fifteen.”

Will doesn't really have much of a reaction, other than a small chuckle, “I like him. He's got some guts.”

But Gabi isn't in the mood for joking around, “I left you 4 messages, Will. You don't return my calls.”

Will argues, “So? I never return your calls. We're not even married anymore!” upon noticing T was also there, he asks, “What's T doing here?”

T pipes up, “She uh, asked me to come in for moral support.”

Will's surprised, “Since when do you need moral support, Gabi?”

Gabi informs him, “It's for you, Will.”

This leaves Will utterly confused, “What?”

Gabi slides a letter over to Will across the desk, “Rule number one in journalism. If you fabricate your facts, you get fired.”

Will skims the letter quickly, and notes, “Lesson number two. Never work for your ex wife.”

Exasperated, Gabi fires back, “You know damn well that has nothing to do with it. You completely made this story up, and you know it!”

Sam's quick to defend his article, “No, I didn't! I had a reliable source.”

Gabi raises an eyebrow, “A reliable source? Who? Some guy in a bar?”

Will defends the guy, “Hey, he was a good guy. And if he was in the bar, it means he wasn't driving!”

Seeing he's getting off topic, he goes on, “I write a column. That's what people who write columns do. It's what people want to read! We push, we go out on a limb! It's what makes me good!”

Gabi says, “No, it's what makes you unemployed.” She slides another paper across the desk, “He sent us this list. If he decides to press charges, our lawyers say it's actionable.”

Will can't believe it. “Just give me a slap on the wrist, and I'll come back in when you decide I've been punished enough.” he offers Gabi his wrist to slap.

But Gabi doesn't take it, instead telling him, “Will, this is permanent.”

Will's stunned enough to where he just stares at Gabi, silent.

Gabi offers some solace of comfort, “If you don't make a fuss, I'll give you severance.”

Will just leaves, wordless, which is answer enough.

It's a few days later in Salem when the newspaper lands on the Kiriakis’ front lawn. Immediately, Sonny marches out the front door, snatching up the paper. After unwrapping it, he unfolds the paper, searching for any update on Will Horton. Upon seeing it, he smiles, running back into the house to show his fiance.

Inside, Paul Narita is packing canned goods into a duffle bag, when he hears Sonny shout,

“She sacked him! Babe, she sacked him!” as he runs into the kitchen.

“Sonny. Good. Here, try on this bag.”

Sonny rushes to the same side of the counter as Paul, excitedly splaying the editor's letter out on it.

“Listen to this: Dear Mr. Kiriakis: I apologize to you for this unfortunate matter. William Horton’s column will no longer be appearing in this paper. Best of luck in your upcoming nuptials!”

Paul smiles, congratulating him, “Nice one, Sonny. You definitely showed him.”

He finishes what he was doing with the duffle bag, then puts it over Sonny's shoulder.

“This is about the weight of the bag you'll be wearing in the Himalayas. Tell me if it's too heavy.”

Sonny's no pushover, but even so, the bag takes him down with it, knocking him flat on his back on the floor.

“Yep. Little heavy, babe. Little help?”

Paul reaches down a hand to help Sonny back up, but Sonny's got a surprise for him, pulling Paul down with him, and for this moment, everything is right with the world as they laugh and kiss.


	4. Wharf Rat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Will. Call me. I've just come up with a way to spin the whole Runaway Gay story. Come down to the office. You're gonna be owe me big time for saving your ass.”

Unemployment sucks, Will thinks as he sulks in his apartment.

But then, who of all people but T calls and leaves a message,

“Will. Call me. I've just come up with a way to spin the whole Runaway Groom story. Come down to the office. You're gonna be owe me big time for saving your ass.”

For a moment, Will considers ignoring the message, before finally deciding that's stupid, throws on a jacket, and leaves for the office.

When he gets there, T is supervising some sort of photoshoot. Upon seeing Will, he calls him over, “Will! Great. Walk with me.”

It's a few minutes before T starts talking again, “Will, I want you to listen, alright? I actually liked the Runaway Gay piece you wrote. And since I technically don't work for the same boss as you, I might have a solution…”

Will has no idea what T is getting at, “T, just come out with it already.”

T stops then and looks him straight in the eye, “Vindication. Want some?”

Will's only more confused, “Vindication? How?”

T lays it all out for him, “What if I told you that there's a way for you to turn this whole story around? A way to prove that while the story wasn't accurate, your theory was?”

Seeing what T's getting at, Will follows with, “The real story on Sonny Kiriakis?”

T has Will follow him again as he says, “All the gory details. And if he runs again, you have a cover story. All true, and 100% accurate.”

The more Will thinks about it, the more he likes it. “Okay. I can do this.”

T tells him, “If you leave tomorrow, you'll have plenty of time before his next attempt down the aisle.”

“Paid vindication. Now that's justice.” Will says, liking the idea more and more.

But T has to be honest, “Justice, yes. Paid, maybe. They're intrigued by the idea, but we got such a tight budget.”

Will has to make sure he'll get some sort of money out of this story, “But I'll get my normal fee, right?”

T walks away then, and Will follows, demanding to know, “You want me to write this thing on spec???”

It takes him several hours, but eventually, he realizes he has nothing to lose at this point.

As he packs, at this point, all he can think about is how badly this needs to work if he wants any chance of another job in the writing field.

“Mayberry, here I come.” Will mutters as he heads out the door, packs up his car, and makes his way to Salem, Illinois..


	5. The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What do you think?”
> 
> “I think you'd look good in powder blue.”
> 
> "No, he's talking about your teeth.”

The drive to Salem is fairly quiet, aside from the radio blaring. In no time, Will passes the Welcome to Salem sign, and drives to one of the only hotels in town.

After he's checked in and has all his stuff on his room, he leaves to head for the mansion Sonny apparently loves in.

When he gets there, he's greeted by a butler, who informs him Sonny's currently at the Common Grounds.

Thankfully, it's not too far away of a walk from there to the coffee shop itself.

As he walks, Will can't help but say out loud, “Wow. Guess I wasn't kidding when I said I was in Mayberry.”

Chad is testing the coffee that Sonny just fixed, as a personal favor for hi

The coffeemaker functions just like it's supposed to, and Chad can't stop complimenting Sonny's work, “You're a godsend. Amazing. This piece of junk hasn't worked like this in years.”

Sonny has to remind him, “Hey, you're lucky I was in a good mood. Second, this old hunk of junk didn't really need much to get back into working order. Just work out a few kinks, and it's good as new.”

That's when the tiny bell over the place's front door can be heard, and Chad goes to see who it is.

Will, meanwhile, takes a moment to look around the place, at the decor and the coffee bean selection.

When he sees the man at the counter, Will immediately tells him,

“Hi. I'm looking for Sonny Kiriakis. I just came from the Kiriakis mansion a few blocks down…”

“Are you a reporter?” Chad asks.

Will's a little shocked at being called out so soon, so much so all he can say is, “What?”

Seeing he's spooked him, Chad backs down, “No, it's just our experience that anyone wearing shoes like those,” he gestures down to Will's nice looking shoes, “is usually a reporter looking to score an interview with Sonny.”

Finally recovered, Will asks, “Oh, you mean about his upcoming wedding?”

But Chad isn't thinking about that, “No, about him getting that asshole from Chicago fired.”

Will looks down at his shoes, decides he's right, and admits, “I am a reporter. And you are?”

Chad reaches out his hand, “Chad DiMera. I co own this place.”

Seeing some movement behind him, Will shakes Chad's hand, then politely asks, “And who's this guy behind you?”

One man steps forward, reaching out his hand, “Abi. Sonny's married cousin.”

Will feels a tap on his shoulder, and when he turns, the guy holds out his hand as well, “Mr. Pressman. No relation.”

With Will to his attention back to Chad, Chad asks, “And you are?”

Without admitting his name, Will says, “Looking for Sonny.”

Chad nods, turning his head and calling, “Sonny! Someone here to see you.”

In the back, they all can hear him call back, “Another reporter?”

After Chad confirms, it's a moment or two before footsteps are heard, and next thing they know, Sonny Kiriakis is in the room with them.

In a word, Will is stunned. Whatever he was expecting Sonny to look like, what he sees blows that completely out of the water. A stark, defined face, with shockingly soft brown eyes, and short, spiky hair. This is the guy everyone's been buzzing about?

Sonny knows exactly who Will is on sight, but still attempts to be civil,

“Hope you got another way to spin it. Pretty much every reporter before you has it all covered.”

Will just smiles, “Call me Mr. Original.”

Sonny plays along, “Awesome.”

But Chad steps in, “Hold on. Nobody interviews Sonny in our coffee shop unless they're getting a cup of coffee to go with it.”

Will shakes his head, “Sorry. Already had one before coming here.”

Mr. Pressman next to him pipes up again, “Excuse me, but I actually have something you might be interested to hear.”

Will turns to listen, “Yes?”

“It's actually his fourth wedding, not his seventh like they said.”

Will nods, having already known that, “I know. Tell me something. Do really think he's gonna make it down the aisle this time?”

While the two of them talk, Chad and Sonny go off by themselves. Sonny shows Chad the article, and upon seeing Will's picture, Chad starts to gasp so badly, it catches everyone's attention.

Upon being interrupted, Will and Mr. Pressman turn their heads in concern, but Sonny just waves them off, helping Chad calm down.

“Panic attack. It'll pass in a minute.” Sonny tells them, before patting him on the back once more in solidarity.

Once Chad's managed to calm himself down, both of them look towards the coffee beans, and the gears start turning in their heads. Seeing Sonny has an idea, Chad pipes up to Will, who's still talking to Mr. Pressman about Sonny's odds.

“Hey, you know what? Instead of anything fancy, how about just a straight up black?”

Pleased at having an in so fast, Will asks, “And you'll answer any questions I might have?”

Sonny nods, and Will takes off his jacket, saying, “Fine. You brew, I'll ask once while we wait."

After getting Will situated in a stool at the counter, Sonny prompts him, “So, what could you possibly have to ask me that other reporters haven't already covered?”

Unseen, Chad grabs some green food coloring someone had forgotten long ago, ready to add it to the coffee once it's ready, while he listens to Will ask,

“You nervous about attempt number 4?”

Sonny answers immediately, almost a little too quickly, “Not even a little bit. Never been more sure about anything or anyone in my life. Other than these crazy dreams.”

Just then, Will's interrupted so Chad slide him his cup of coffee.

Sonny talks about his weird dreams, despite Will currently occupied with his cup of coffee. At one point, another customer walks in and sits down at a nearby table.

“In another one.” Sonny says now, “I'm inside the church. Everyone I know is there, only someone's just told me something so shocking it literally stopped the entire wedding from happening. And here's the weirdest part -- I look down at my tuxedo, and it's powder blue. I have no idea what that means. Dream or not, my wedding is not a John Hughes movie!”

Will keeps listening as Chad finishes topping him off.

Sonny stops his mini rant here to ask Will, “What do you think?”

Will thinks it's a little odd that Sonny would stop mid rant to ask what he thinks, “I think you'd look good in a powder blue tuxedo.”

Chad sets down his coffee pot hands Will a miniature mirror, “No, he's talking about your teeth.”

One look in the mirror, and all is clear. Instead of his usual pearly whites, Will's teeth are now stained really black, like they've been punched a little too hard.

Silently, Will stands up, and upon seeing someone else in the shop, Will asks him, “Excuse me, but do you know somewhere I can buy some dental products?”

The man responds, “Pharmacy a few blocks down. Tell them Pete sent you.”

Will nods, committing it to memory, and exits the place.

Once outside, Will starts walking, when he hears Sonny say behind him, causing him to turn back around.

“Mr. Horton, if you're looking for the pharmacy, it's that way.”

Rolling his eyes, Will just says, “Thank you.” And starts walking the other way.

But Sonny's not done yet, “If you're here in the pursuit of happiness, you might as well throw in the towel now. Cause you can't make me feel bad.”

Will is so not about to let Sonny have the last word here, “I'm not here to make you feel bad. I'm here for vindication. Deep down in my heart, my bones, and my soul, I know I'm right about you. You got me fired, and fucked up my teeth for kicks. You chew people up, spit them out and love it.”

Will pauses for a moment to catch his breath, while several passerby laugh at his stained teeth.

“You're going to do the same thing to poor bastard number four that you did to the last three. You're gonna run again, and I'm not leaving until you do.”

Sonny just shrugs him off, telling Will, “Then prepared to be extremely disappointed.”

But Will stands firm, “We'll see.”

Sonny's finally had enough, saying, “Well, this has been fun, and I'd love to keep talking, but I still have a job to do.”

Will shakes his head at Sonny's retreating back, and continues his walk to the pharmacy. First things first, get his teeth back to pearly white like they're supposed to be.


	6. Isabella

Sonny doesn't even think about Will being in town again until he heads home for the night, pulling into the driveway and heading into the mansion he shares with his dad and uncle.

Upon entering the front door, he hears some small chitchat, so he calls out to make himself known,

“Hey! You're never gonna believe who showed up, tail between his legs.”

“Who?”

That voice isn't from his dad, uncle, or Paul. When he enters the living room, he's in for another shock, as Will is sitting on the couch talking to the three of them, like he owns the place.

“Hello, Sonny.” Will greets Sonny, smirk on his face. Immediately, Sonny's on guard. “I just stopped by to apologise to your family.” He turns his head towards Justin Kiriakis for this next part, “I was wrong. I fabricated a story, and I made a mistake.”

Justin pipes up here, “In other words, he's actually a human being. Even brought us a good bottle of whiskey.” He holds the bottle up to show Sonny.

Will laughs, “Even had to send the dog into the other room.”

Justin agrees, “Oh yeah. That dye job on his teeth scared the crap out of old Rumsfeld.”

Sonny can't believe what he's seeing, “You can't be serious.”

Paul, enjoying the excitement, continues the conversation, “No, you should've seen it.” and starts growling, and because he's such a big guy, it likens him to a grizzly bear.

But seeing how Sonny isn't laughing at all, Paul immediately stops, and stands up to join Sonny, “Wasn't that funny, to be honest.”

Sonny just gives him a look that clearly says he'll deal with him later, then grabs the whiskey and carries it into the kitchen. It's clear Paul is expected to follow.

“I'll just...yeah.” Paul awkwardly excuses himself, and follows Sonny out of the room.

No words can be heard, other than a few snippets here and there about wedding plans, which is enough to prompt Will to ask Justin,

“Fighting this close to the wedding? Think this might be a sign they'll call it off?”

Justin completely waves the question off, telling him, “Wedding cake freezes. This we know.”

But then, Will surprises himself by admitting, “You know, your son seems like such a charming guy.”

Justin gestures to the portrait of the blond woman on the wall, “Just like his mom, may she rest in peace.”

Will looks at the portrait closely, and agrees, “Beautiful. He has her eyes.” But then he reminds himself why he's really here. “I still just can't see him leaving three grooms in the dust like that.”

“Yes you can!” Sonny's uncle, Vic, speaks up. “We got them all on video.”

It sounds too good to be true. “He has the videos?”

Justin nods, “Sure. Sean at the hotel does wedding videos. Course, Sonny didn't know he was gonna be running for the hills.”

As Will looks for the videos, Justin continues talking, possibly fueled by a little too much whiskey,

“I’ll give my son this much credit. He makes very impressive time, tuxedo and all. Sonny may not be Salem's longest running joke, but he's definitely the fastest.” Followed by some loud snickering.

Vic only offers a good-natured sarcastic, “Ha ha.”

Finally Will finds the videos, and just in time for dinner.

While the family sits around the table eating their chili, with Will joining them, Justin keeps up his conversation about Sonny,

“Unfortunately, me and my Adrienne were only lucky enough to have one child, not for lack of trying.”

Sonny shakes his head in embarrassment, “Oh yeah, real nice, Dad. Give him all the nitty gritty details.”

Will accidentally drops his spoon, and leans down to grab it while Justin keeps talking,

“So I just consider it a stroke of sheer dumb luck that I'm able to pay for so many weddings.”

Sonny intervenes here before Will can say anything, “Not this one, Dad. This wedding is all on me.”

Will finally gets a word in, “Seems only fair, don't you think?”

Sonny gets defensive, “Regardless of how it may look, I don't do it on purpose, and have absolutely no intention of doing it again.”

Paul encourages him, “That's right Sonny. Eyes on the prize.”

Will's a little confused here, and upon seeing this, Paul explains, “Sports psychology. Part of my job.”

Sonny interjects here, to brag about his fiance, “Paul here coaches the baseball team at Salem U. And he's hiked the K2.”

Will nods his appreciation. Anyone who can commit to climbing that high is definitely no pushover.

“The K2. Ain't that the truth.”

“Twice.” Sonny says, adding more emphasis on the feat.

Will sees what Sonny's doing, so he just plays along, “Oh yeah?”

“With a limited air supply.”

Paul blushes slightly, before saying, “My guy likes to show me off.” and planting a kiss on Sonny's lips.

“I'm taking him to Khirsu in the Himalayas for our honeymoon.”

Will can't hide his amusement at this news, “So romantic.”

Sonny snaps, “We definitely think so.”

Will comments sarcastically, “Nothing like sharing your romantic getaway with nothing but mountains for miles and who knows what else that could be hiding up there.”

Justin cracks up, and Sonny gives Will a dirty look, and before they know it, they're back to eating their chili in silence.

If tonight's conversation is anything to go by, Will can't wait to get back to his hotel room so he can start to crack this story wide open.


	7. Three Almost Weddings and Sonny Kiriakis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need.to clarify here: Mackenzie is a girl in canon, but for all intents and purposes for this story, Mackenzie is a guy.

When T calls later, Will's back in his hotel room, ready to start watching Sonny's 3 previous weddings.

“Hey, stranger! How goes the story?”

“You're not gonna believe this.” Will tells him over the phone while starting up the video. “I actually got a DVD of all three nuptial disasters.”

The video starts, with the words “Neil Hultgren wedding” and the camera pans around what looks to be a popular night club. Clearly this was not your average wedding.

“If it's truth and facts people want, I got them.” Will notes as he focuses on the video, which has a DJ play “Canon in D.” as Sonny comes into the room, where all the guests either look like they're in the wedding party or have at least attempted to look nice.

Sonny himself is wearing a semi formal suit, and honestly? Will can believe that Sonny is genuinely happy here. There's a smile on his face, and then he's finally by the groom, who's dressed in a V cut shirt that was clearly designed to fit his body, and dancing with the DJ as Sonny makes his way to him.

Will finishes up his conversation with T on the phone, “I'll send you the notes once I got them.” Pause. “Okay. Love to you and Gabi. Bye.” Then he hangs up, turning his attention back to the video.

But then the music stops, and as Neil calls for the preacher in the corner to come up, the camera catches Sonny looking back at everyone, and suddenly, Sonny's entire demeanor changes, and in the next shot, Sonny's bolting out of the room.

To the camera guy's credit, he attempts to follow Sonny out, and successfully catches a glimpse of Sonny getting into the getaway car and driving away.

Will's definitely shocked, but he can't stop now, not with two more weddings to get through. He fast forwards the tape until he sees the venue change. This time it's a church, and the words, “Mackensie Brady wedding” appear on the screen, and traditional music can be heard.

The camera shows the stained glass windows, then moves back to the ceremony, where the back doors are opening, and both grooms’ parties are walking down the aisle, complete with ring bearer and best man.

Then, “Ave Maria” can be heard, and the camera pans to where Sonny is now walking down the aisle, in a gray suit that definitely doesn't look out of place in this wedding. Once again, Sonny is smiling, and he even has another kid following behind him.

But just like the first one, possibly even earlier, Sonny's barely made to the end of the aisle before he immediately turns to the right and goes back up to the entrance. The little boy attempts to keep up, trying to grab Sonny's suit, but it proves to be futile, as Sonny just keeps walking, not even acknowledging the kid, and by the time Sonny's left the church, the kid's fallen over, having tripped over one of Sonny's feet in his mad dash to get out. The kid can only shake his head.

Will's right there with the kid, shaking his own head and chuckling, “I can't believe it.” as he starts the last wedding.

The white text reads “Brian's wedding”, before the scene opens on what appears to be another chapel. As the camera pans over the ceremony and decorations, it becomes apparent that they're not in just any chapel, they're in a hospital chapel, proven by the number of doctors in the pews.

This time, when Sonny's coming down the aisle, he's wearing a white tuxedo, with a lab coat in place of a jacket or blazer, as well as the other groom.

This time the preacher manages to say a few words here, “Dearly beloved we're gathered here today…” before the first hiccup of the wedding happens, and for once, it's not Sonny running. Instead, several of the doctor's pagers go off at once, and he can't help but turn towards the noise.

Upon seeing this, the preacher stops and asks, “Can we please get the beepers under control? If you need to go, go? Last thing we want is a patient in more distress than Sonny here."

But then, just as the two before, at first it looks like he's just trying to get away from the noise, as he keeps moving, but when he's a fair at the end of the aisle, he doesn't stop. He keeps going, and the camera then pans back to the other groom, who looks like someone stepped all over his heart.

To Sonny's credit, he does look back for a hot second before continuing his mad dash all the way out of the hospital.

And just like that, Will has the whole skinny on weddings 1, 2, and 3.

Holy shit. Here he was making Sonny out to be some kind of monster, and now he's just seen a switch go off in Sonny's head 3 times. This is gold.

When Will finally heads to bed, and he's satisfied the notes on the weddings are up to his standards, he shuts off the light and closes his eyes.

Today, weddings. Tomorrow, the grooms.


	8. So Happy Together

“What about the white tuxedo?”

“No, I had a white tuxedo groom last time. I don't wanna jinx this one. And besides, he's not buff enough to be Paul.”

Sonny is having a very tedious conversation with the baker for the wedding, Mrs. Trout, over the wedding cake toppers. He's had to do this with every wedding, and it never goes by any faster.

Mrs. Trout now picks up another groom topper, setting it on the fake cake for reference, “Then why not something traditional?”

Sonny admits, “That would be a good one. But maybe just a tad too delicate for Paul?”

“But he's got the Nart's eyes.” Someone says from the bakery's entrance, popping his head next to where the other two are leaned over the counter.

Sonny rolls his eyes at the fact that once again, Will Horton has shown up to make this already tedious task even worse.

Will pipes up again, pretending to study the topper, “No, I'm wrong. The Nart's eyes are a little closer, almost beady-eyed.”

Remembering his manners, Will introduces himself to Mrs. Trout, “Hello. Could I have a coffee, please?”

Seeing she now has another customer, Mrs. Trout immediately jumps to ring it up, “Yes, of course.”

“And…” Will stops to sniff. “What's that yummy smell?” He turns his head and spots the culprit, “Oh, the baklava! Could I get one of those too? Thank you very much.”

Mrs. Trout smiles, “Okay. No problem.” She turns back to Sonny for a moment, pointing to a completely different groom topper, “Sonny, I say this one is the best you.”

Before Sonny can even reach for it, Will has already picked it up, along with the potential Paul groom Sonny had been examining, saying, “Lemme see that.”

Will studies it for a few moments, but then, he raises the Sonny topper, fake hammering the Paul one, saying, “Bambambambambam!”

As if that wasn't embarrassing enough, Will then proceeds to make like the Paul topper is wounded and running away, mocking his voice, “Ow, ow! Help me!” then he sighs, holding the Sonny topper upright again. “Yep. That's him, alright.”

Mrs. Trout can't help but be amused by that little show, and laughs out loud. “You're Will Horton, aren't you?”

Will nods, “Yes I am. And you are…?”

She introduces herself, “I'm Martha Trout.”

Will continues to talk to her, “So, I'm guessing you're making the cake?”

After confirming, Will presses on to the other question, “And supposedly you're throwing the…”

She cuts him off, reaching out to grab Will's sleeve and straightening it out, telling him, “I'm throwing the New Year's Eve party for Sonny.”

Will's taken aback, “A pre wedding New Year's Eve party?”

She surprises Sonny by what she says next, “If you're still here by then, you should stop by.”

Sonny interjects, not letting Will respond, “No! No, he doesn't wanna come.”

But Will's not gonna let Sonny speak for him, “I wouldn't miss it.” He rings the service bell, for the hell of it. “I'll definitely be there. Thanks for the invite.”

Sonny can't take it, marching over to where Will's at the register, “Is this gonna be a new thing with you? Following me all day?”

Will just smiles, and says, “No.” To Mrs. Trout, “I'll see you later.” and exits the bakery, coffee and pastry in hand.

Sonny takes his spot back at the counter, reminding her, “You know he's not a nice person, right?”

Mrs. Trout looks like someone dumped water on her head, and tries to cover for herself, “Of course I do!”

Then, Sonny rather forcefully sets the Sonny and Paul toppers in front of him.

“These work. Nothing wrong with the eyes at all.”

And now he can go visit his fiance out on the baseball field and forget about Will Horton for the rest of the day. Win-win.


	9. Take Me Out to the Ballgame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more time, folks: Mackenzie is a girl in canon, but for all intents and purposes for this story, Mackenzie is a guy.

The baseball field is noisy when Sonny finally manages to get there, and one of the players greets him, “Hi, Mr. Kiriakis!”

Sonny looks completely out of place on the field, so he just stays hunched in on himself, and barely acknowledges the greeting.

Player member, one on the younger side, runs up to him and says, “Sonny, come on. Don't marry the coach. Marry me! I love you.”

Sonny doesn't feel up to playing along, so he sends the kid on his way, saying, “You're jailbait, and you know it. Go away. Get back to practice.”

Elsewhere, many of the players are just practicing pitching and batting, and who should be helping but Will Horton, all dressed up in am umpire uniform, right next to Paul.

Upon seeing Sonny, Paul moves out of the way to give him a kiss, “Hey, Sonny-boy. How are you?”

Sonny hugs Paul briefly, saying, “Good.” But when he sees Will, his smile immediately drops. “What could he possibly be doing now?”

Paul doesn't see the issue here, telling Sonny, “He just wanted to check out the team, see our practice.”

Will pipes up, “And of course, talk about you!”

Sonny sees all sorts of red flags here, grabbing Paul and moving him slightly away, “You're not making friends with this joker, are you?”

Again, Paul doesn't really get why Sonny's acting like this, “All I'm saying is how good you are to me. That's it. Oh, and about how I'm the luckiest man alive to be marrying you.”

Sonny smiles at that reassurance, and gives Paul another kiss, and gives him a big hug.

Will decides he's seen enough, and after he's thrown another ball back, tells Paul, “I should really get going. Lot of people to talk to. Words to write down. I'll see you two love birds later.” And walks away, but not so far that he doesn't hear Paul call out to him, “See you at the wedding!” Which is definitely news to Sonny.

Sonny makes Paul look at him as he demands to know, “You invited him to the wedding? Are you insane? You realize he's writing another article about me, right?”

Then, Paul finally decides to clue Sonny in, “Of course I do. But you're not running this time. C'mere. Gimme some sugar.” and gives Sonny a hard squeeze, before surprising Sonny by lifting him up, and shouting,

“Boys! Send my man off!”

And the next thing Sonny knows, a hunch of baseballs are flying right over his head, so close to hitting him but always missing. And while he makes a show of excitement, the truth is he's terrified. In the distance, he can barely make out Will leaving the park, and suddenly, he realizes what Will's doing.

Hopefully Mackenzie will be willing to see him on such short notice.

The confession window slides open, and Sonny begins to speak,

“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. My last confession was...well, never, but anyway. I have a sort of weird question for you. I've been having bad thoughts. Like, seriously messed up thoughts.”

Tell pastor speaks, in an even voice, “Of impure nature?”

Sonny quickly assures him, “No, no. I want to rip him apart and make him regret ever trying to less with a Kiriakis. Don't even care what it is. I want revenge. How bad is that, sin wise? Is there a way I can do that without going to hell?”

“My child, a sin of the heart is still a-.”

Sonny interrupts here, because the charade is already getting old, “It's Sonny. It was 5 years ago we were doing way more than just things of impure nature. So drop the act, alright? It's annoying.”

Mackenzie does drop the act, telling Sonny, “Don't be so quick to jump all over me.” And slides the window closed.

But Sonny just starts knocking on the window, “Hey, wait! Mack, I need to talk to you! It's really important.”

Mackenzie steps out of his side of the booth, calling Sonny out, “Sonny. Sonny!” and once Sonny's out, he tells him, “You're not even Catholic, so really, you shouldn't be here at all.”

Sonny feels bad, but what he came here for is too important, “I'm sorry. I'm just seriously stressed out about this reporter in town. I just came here to warn you he might stop by here and ask you all these stupid questions.”

Mackenzie tells him, “Well, actually there was only one kind of stupid question. The rest of them weren't that bad.”

Sonny can't believe it. He has to sit down in one of the pews, “What? He was here? You talked to him? Did you tell him about how we were together before you joined the priesthood?”

Mackenzie replies, “Of course. In fact, I think I was a good influence on you.”

But that's not enough for Sonny, “Exactly what questions did he ask you?”

Mackenzie answers, “Only respectful stuff. Your taste in music. Stuff we had in common. Did you ruin my life when you left me at the altar?”

Okay. Doesn't sound too bad so far. “Oh. What did you tell him?”

Mackenzie tells the truth, “I said, how can I be angry when clearly, God had other plans for me?”

Looks like Sonny dodged a bullet. “That's a good one. Should make for an interesting read for his little article.”

But Mackenzie needs Sonny to know, “But, Sonny, that's how I really feel.”

Sonny nods, figuring as much. He stands up from the pew, telling him, “I should go. The guy's nuts. But I'm pretty sure I know who he's gonna talk to next.”

Mackenzie whispers a blessing at Sonny's retreating back, but Sonny stops, because he can't help but wonder. “What was the kind of stupid question be asked you?”

Mackenzie answers, “He wanted to know what kind of eggs you liked.”

Sonny doesn't get why a reporter would go to the trouble to ask something like that, so he walks away again, thinking out loud, “Not like anyone would remember after this long anyway.”

“Over hard with toast. Same as me.”

Sonny has to turn around when he hears that, because despite Mackenzie's assurance that he wasn't mad, the fact that he still remembers tells Sonny he's still not quite over him.

“You know, I really am sorry for the way I hurt you, Mack.”

Again, Mackenzie assures him, “Sonny, I'm good where I am now. This is clearly where I'm meant to be. But, if you ever do get baptized as a Catholic, would you please confess to someone else?”

Sonny nods. He can do that much. “Of course.”

Once he's back in the car, he stops to compose himself. That was harder than he thought.

This is all that asshole reporters fault. What the hell is he doing to him?


	10. Paris is Burning

Sonny pulls up to the Spot, rushing inside, only to find no one in sight.

"Neil? You here?”

There's no reply, except for some sort of loud bang from the back, and who should come through the door but Neil himself, triumphantly holding up a cassette tape.

“Go me! I found it!” Neil says as he sits back down in front of his laptop on the bar counter.

Sonny can't help but smile. Regardless if they didn't work out, Neil always did have an awesome taste in music. “Found what?”

Neil looks up, and upon seeing Sonny, he gives a smile back, “The mix from our first date. Remember?”

He attempts to open it, but finds the tape broken. Disappointed, he immediately starts typing. “I'll find another bootleg online. Downloading is such a piece of cake in today's society.”

Before long, loud music is playing, and Sonny has to shout to be heard,

“Neil, I need you to listen to me.”

“Uh huh.” Neil replies as he keeps typing away.

“A reporter's in town hell bent on making me miserable. If he shows up, please please please do not show him that picture of us in Paris.”

A loud guffaw is heard, and Sonny turns to look for the source. “What the hell was that?”

But then, something seems to click for Sonny, and he glares at Neil as he peers behind the deejay booth.

Neil asks him, as he pauses the music, “We flew to Paris twice. Which picture is it?”

But what Sonny sees behind the counter dashes any hopes he might've had of Will not seeing that picture.

“Imagine Sonny Kiriakis shirtless in a public area.” He looks at the picture again, “Looks like it might've been chilly too.”

Sonny attempts to reach for the picture, to snatch it away, but with a guy like Will, he has next to no hope. “Give it!”

Will keeps it out of Sonny's reach, continuing his teasing as he gets up from his hiding spot, “Although, the picture is a bit blurry, so I can't see that Fleur de lis tattoo on your hip.”

This is actually enough for Neil to get up from his seat and tell Sonny, “Will here bet me 50 bucks that you still don't have it. I knew you loved that thing. Plus, I could seriously use 50 bucks.”

Sonny doesn't have time for these childish games, “I am not showing either of you anything. I am a husband-to-be. Now give me the picture!” He seethes as he makes another desperate grab for the picture, but Will refuses to hand it over moving further away.

“Nuh uh uh. One little peek at that magnificent tattoo, and this picture is all yours.”

Sonny tries one more time, and Neil is still looking at him, hopeful. But it's no use. He's gonna have to come clean. He can only hope Neil understands.

“Fine! Fine. You want a look so damn bad, here.” He pulls the hem of his shirt up enough to where the tattoo should've been, but instead, there's nothing. Bare as the day he was born. 

Sonny releases the hem, glaring at Will, “Happy?”

Will smirks knowingly, “Completely.”

Neil is stunned. “Sonny? You got it removed?”

Will can't resist pouring salt on the wound, “Neil, I'll bet you double or nothing it was a stick-on.”

Sonny sighs at having to admit the truth, “Neil, I really don't like needles. But it's just a tattoo.”

Will laughs loudly at hearing this, which prompts Sonny to give him a death glare, but it's Neil that steals the show by pulling the collar of his shirt down revealing none other than the Fleur de lis tattoo on his hip.

Sonny hates how much worse this whole thing is getting, and when Will sees it, he sighs in sympathy.

“I don't think his is fake. He's heartbroken.”

Sonny snaps at Will, “No he's not!”

Neil goes back to his laptop, “I think I am, actually.”

Sonny tries to reason with Neil, “No, you're not! You have the bar, you're having fun, you're not-.”

But Sonny's interrupted by Neil putting the music back on, so Sonny just whispers to him, “We'll talk more later, alright?” then makes a beeline straight past Will, this time successfully snatching the picture away from Will.

As Sonny storms out, Neil asks Will, “Will? What would Gloria do?”

Will says simply, “She'd survive."

This is satisfying enough for Neil, “Gloria would survive!"

“She would survive.”

Since it looks like Neil is gonna want to be alone for a while, Will decides to go see what the rest of the townsfolk are up to. He heard there might be something going on at the park.


	11. Chapter 11

Sonny and Abi are driving to where the softball game is just starting, when they see Will Horton bonding with some of Salem's upstanding members of society. Both of them roll their eyes and focus on getting to the game.A

An hour or two later, the game is still going strong, both Sonny and Abi cheering loudly as Abi's husband Chad is up to bat. Abi attempts to cheer louder, but Sonny in his softball cap can't be matched.

When they have a moment to chat, Sonny doesn't waste any time talking about what's bothering him, “Okay, can we talk about me? He's gonna rip me apart over that stupid tattoo. Go on and on about how I was already thinking about leaving the entire time we were together. It's so stupid.”

Abi asks, “And all for what? Satisfaction?”

Sonny nods, “That's what he keeps telling everyone he interviews. But come on. He's got 'new article' written all over him.”

Abi states what he doesn't realize is the obvious, “Perhaps because you got the poor guy fired?”

Sonny rolls his eyes, “No shit, Sherlock.”

Abi starts, “Not saying he didn't deserve it…” but he gets distracted as he sees his husband is heading to second base. “Go, Chad!”

As Chad slides into second base successfully, Sonny catches a glimpse of Will Horton and comments, “Goddamn. He'll do anything to get a good story, won't he?”

Abi is more focused on her husband, but makes some offhand comment, “Gotta admit, he looks a lot better now that he's bleached his teeth back to normal. Pretty attractive guy.”

Seeing Will's making his way over to them, Sonny stands up, “Hell no. I need to get away for a bit. You deal with him.” and gets down from the bench to cheer over by the dugout.

Next thing Abi knows, Will's coming up to sit in Sonny's spot, greeting him, “Hey, Abigail Deveraux.”

Abi attempts to protest, “That's Sonny's seat.”

Will pays it no mind, picking up the cup of beer in front of him, “And this is Sonny's beer.” and taking a sip.

Seeing Chad is about to trying to steal third base, Will asks Abi, “That's your husband out there, right?”

Abi lights up at having been asked, “Yeah. Have you tried his special coffee blend, Chad Romance?”

Will gives an amused smile and says, “Not yet. This morning i was hoping to find a very good romance. But looks to me like he's a damn good baseball player too.”

Abi confirms, “Absolutely. He was a real big shot in high school. Made all star on the baseball team and everything.”

Will inquires, “Aw, I bet you loved to brag about him back then.”

Abi stops to take a sip of his drink, “Actually, that was when everyone was convinced Sonny and Chad were gonna get together. I mean, they hung out, he helped him with her arm, he insisted on treating him to pizza to celebrate a good game. But it never went further than that, obviously…” Abi trails off here, because Chad has successfully made it to third base.

Abi takes the opportunity to stand up and cheer, “Good going, Chad!” But wouldn't you know it, Chad is too busy paying attention to Sonny, who's going nuts cheering by the dugout.

Abi abruptly sits back down, and Will takes advantage and asks, “It's so great that they still managed to keep up their friendship, isn't it?”

Abi tries to stay upbeat here, “Of course. It was so long ago, and Chad's not into guys anyway. See, he's not really a heartbreaker.”

Then, Chad finally gets to home base, and surprise surprise, Sonny's right there, giving Chad a huge hug, lifting him up in the air, with Abi all but forgotten. Whether Abi said anything or not, Will knows she's hurt by this little display.

Abi stands up again, telling Will, “I gotta go... yeah.” and getting down from the bench, and walking away.

Meanwhile, Sonny finally sets Chad back down, in time to see Abi get up from the bleachers and walk away, while Will writes something down in a small notebook.

Unbelievable. What did this asshole do now? Sonny gives Will an accusing look as he marches back to his seat, plopping down and demanding,

“You’ve barely been here for 3 minutes. What the hell did you do to her?”

Will's well prepared for this, immediately defending himself, “Try looking in a mirror.” and mimicking Sonny and Chad’s little hug sesh from a moment ago.

Sonny finally gets it, and go on the offense, “You don't know any of us. We've been friends nearly our whole lives. But clearly you wouldn't know friendship from another fuck buddy.”

Will simply says, “I am not the only one who doesn't know a friend from a fuck buddy. The USS Sonny leaves quite a wake.”

Then Will excuses himself, getting up and leaving the field.

Sonny tries to forget about all of it, focusing on the game. “Stupid reporter. Stirring up shit for no reason.”

Several more players hit the ball, and he claps for them. “See? I'm cheering. That's not wrong. Guy doesn't know what he's talking about.”

But Sonny has a feeling he'll be talking to Abi later anyway. Goddamnit, why does this stupid reporter keep doing this to him?


	12. Kodachrome

Next morning, Abi is walking into Common Grounds, and she's actually so focused on that, she walks right past Sonny at one of the tables, looking upset.

“Do you think I flirt with Chad?” Is the first thing Sonny says, before even a hello.

Abi turns her head, greeting Sonny. “Well hello to you too.” Then she notices Sonny's in the same clothes as yesterday. “You're looking good.”

“Thank you.” Sonny acknowledges. “Do you think I flirt with Chad?”

Seeing Sonny's not gonna let this go, Abi decides to tell the truth, “Yes.”, before going to make herself some coffee.

“I don't mean to.” Sonny tells her, completely apologetic.

“I know.” Abi assures him, while walking back to where Sonny's seated. “You just sometimes spaz out with all this flirtatious energy from your youth, and it's so enticing, it attracts anything that moves.”

Sonny can't believe Abi's never said anything before now. “Anything that moves? What, instead of anything that doesn't?”

Abi attempts to make a joke. “Like certain types of coral.”

But Sonny's still too upset over Abi's admission, “God. Forget being sent to hell. I'm going voluntarily.”

Abi asks politely, “Why?”

Sonny thinks this should be obvious, “Because! Clearly you think I'm all like, ‘Hey, buddy! Come sit by me!’”

Abi snorts, and tells him, “No I don't. I think you're like, ‘I’m a good looking guy and I've always known it, and something about me is just dying to give all this attention to someone like you.’ There's no competing with it. Especially when the competition is us married folk who have lost our mystery.”

Sonny immediately jumps to Abi's defense, “What're you talking about? You're plenty mysterious.”

Abi corrects him, “Thank you, but no. I'm weird. Weird and mysterious are two completely different things.”

Sonny tries again, “I'm weird.”

Abi corrects him again, “No no. You're eccentric. Eccentric and weird are two very different things.”

Sonny has to try to find some way to make this right. “Abi, I think there's no denying that I am completely and utterly fucked up. But, nevertheless, I swear from here on out, I promise to never flirt with Chad again.”

Abi can see that Sonny is genuinely upset here, and now that he seems to be ready to listen, she decides to let Sonny off the hook, while also giving Sonny some advice,

“No, no. I'm not worried about you and Chad, or me and Chad, or even about you being fucked up. But, come on, Sonny. You've been like this since middle and high school. But now that you know how much it hurts others, maybe it's time for you hang it up and settle down with someone. With Paul, if he's the one.”

Sonny agrees with him, “Maybe you're right.” But still. “Sure there's nothing I can do to make it up to you?”

Abi thinks about it, for Sonny’s sake, before coming up with something. “Coca cola pop rocks.”

Sonny can't believe Abi would ask him to do that. “What? Come on. That face was only funny in camp when we genuinely believed our faces were gonna freeze.”

Abi shrugs, “Give it a try. Let's see.”

Sonny rolls his eyes, but finally agrees, “Okay…” and pulls his mouth apart with both hands while simultaneously crossing his eyes. Once he releases his mouth, he hides his face, “So embarrassing.”

Abi can't help it. It's so ridiculous, but it always makes him laugh, regardless of how many years it's been. “Thank you, Sonny.”

With that, there's not much of a reason for Sonny to stick around, so they hug and say goodbye to each other, and Abi goes on her way.

Now that that's settled, time for Sonny to go do a little snooping on one Mr. Horton.


	13. 23A, Swan Hill

When Sonny gets to the Salem Inn, he doesn't see Will's car, so he likes his chances of snooping uninterrupted.

He walks right in, telling the desk clerk, who's taking a small nap because of the slow service day, “Hey. Wake up. Gimme the key to the reporter's room. I wanna snoop.”

Derrick just hands it over, telling him, “Don't take anything huge, alright?”

Sonny makes his way through the hotel, climbing the stairs to the second floor. Once he checks to see if the coast is clear, he uses the key and unlocks the door.

After a quick glance through the room, he spots a cassette tape on the desk by the door. Sonny can't deny he's curious. What kind of music does a guy like Will Horton even like? Upon closer inspection, he sees it's a tape by Tokyo Fab. That seems to be reason enough for Sonny to pocket the tape. “Really doing the guy a favor if that's what he thinks is good music.”

As he looks through the rest of the room, he sees a bunch of sticky notes all along the frame of a painting in the room. Sonny takes a closer look at one of them, and reads it out loud, “How did he get all of them to propose? He's not even that attractive.” He scoffs at this, pulling it off and pocketing it with the tape. “Bite me.”

But then he can't help himself and reads another one, and before he knows it, he's pulling several of the notes off and pocketing them as well. If that wasn't bad enough, he sees the DVDs with his weddings by the TV, and he snatches these too. “Where do you get the nerve?”

He would've snatched up more if he hadn't heard the sound of the door handle jiggling. With quick thinking, he dashes for the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it behind him.

Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough, because Will sees him right as he closes the door, as well as seeing many of his notes gone along with the wedding video.

But Sonny gives himself away anyway, with a loud audible bang as he tries to get the bathroom window open.

Will is pissed, going for the door and banging on it, “Alright, I know you're in there, dumbass. You stole my notes, and you came in here without my consent. Open the damn door. Nowhere to go.”

But what Will can't see is Sonny finally getting the window open, and making his climb out of the room. 

“Whaddya say to an interview? Question one. Why do you insist on being such a goddamn pain in the ass!” Will shouts, slamming his gigantic body against the door in a bid to open it.

On Sonny's side, he's made it onto the ledge, and now he's slowly sliding away from the window. He can hear Will yelling, “Alright I'm coming in. One. Two. Three!” and a bang as the door gives, and pretty soon, Will's sticking his head out the window.

“You realize breaking and entering is a crime right? I'm gonna call the sheriff on you.” Will threatens.

But Sonny just plays it off as he keeps sliding away, turning a corner and looking back to tell Will, “Yeah, you do that. Oh, by the way, could you remind him he's bringing the booze for New Years Eve party? One less call I gotta make. Thanks a bunch.” before he keeps going without stopping.

Nothing Will can do now, but apparently he's not the only one that saw Sonny, because his next door neighbor at the hotel calls out, “Hey, Will. Your friend got a cousin?”

Will's frustrated, but he squeezes in one last jab for the night, “Give it a week. Then you can have the original all to yourself.”

Looks like Sonny was right. Tokyo Fab is still crappy. But he keeps listening, not entirely sure why. Maybe it's because it's the first time he's actually getting an inside look at the guy that's been making his life hell ever since he first wrote that stupid article. Maybe it's the notes that he's taken a closer look at since taking them.

Or maybe it's just the one note that he dropped on the floor upon seeing it, because he never let himself think about how true it is. At least not until Will Horton showed up.

“Shows no remorse.”


	14. Ring on Every Finger

It's the next morning after Sonny's little breaking and entering stunt, and he's messing with Will Horton to wake him up.

“Good morning, Vietnam!"

Finally, Will starts to stir, and immediately, Sonny warns him, “Whoa there, tiger.” Which causes Will to flinch, prompting Sonny to tell him, “You better hold on damn tight to those covers. I'm not here to see Will Jr..”

It's almost comical, how exposed Will is right now, the covers barely covering his lanky body. Will sighs, still half asleep. “I take it the desk clerk is another future husband?”

Sonny ignores this, going straight to the real reason he's here. “So, as you know, I read your little notes. Or at least, I tried to, with all your chicken scratch for handwriting.”

Will's more awake now, so he adjusts himself a little. “And your point here is...what?”

Sonny continues, “The point is just like before, you have it all wrong, and that's not good for either of us. That being said, I have a way for both of us to get what we want. I'm gonna help you write the true story.”

Will doesn't believe it for a hot second, “Oh really?”

Sonny nods, “Yep. I'll tell you anything you want to know about me or my past three weddings. But in return, I want a grand.”

Will groans at that price. “Knew there was a catch somewhere.”

Sonny immediately goes into what the money would be for, “I want an awesome wedding, with an equally awesome tux. For a grand, I'll let you ask anything you want and follow me around.”

Will finally decides to get up, throw a robe on, and make some coffee to wake him up. “Magazine doesn't spend money for interviews. It's not exactly ethical what you're asking.”

But Sonny has something else in mind, “No, not the magazine. You. Since you got fired, you probably got severance, expenses or both. Which means you're writing this thing on spec. An interview from the 'Runaway Gay' himself, as you put it, would guarantee that thing will sell.”

Will takes a sip, thinking it over, before finally saying, “Too high. Go lower.”

“750”

“500”

“650”

At that, Will finally turns to him, and agrees, “Deal.”

In Sonny's room, Will says, “Wow. I have to say, this stuff is very impressive.”, looking at all the special coffee blends Sonny's made and combined from so many different exotic beans.

Will holds up a logo, with the words, "Sonny Side Up", asking, "This your preferred logo?"

Sonny nods, "Think so."

“You know if you really wanted, you could sell these at any coffee chain you wanted. Or even Chicago.”

Sonny just shrugs it off. “Someday maybe.”

Will calls Sonny out on it, “What, you don't think you can?”

Sonny defends himself, “Not that I don't think I can, just...maybe someday.”

Then he shakes it off, getting up to where he keeps the rings. “All right. You wanted to see the rings, hear the proposals?”

Will's excited, following Sonny. “You bet your ass I do.”

Sonny pulls one out, opening it. “This is Neil.” It's a very unique band, a rainbow black inlay tungsten.

“He proposed at one of the Spot's famous raids, while we were standing in line for drinks. Which I thought was nice, until he realized he had too much already and threw up on my feet.”

Will winces in sympathy, “Little mood killer.”

Sonny shrugs, “It was still nice despite that.”, then puts it back, opening another one. This one is sterling silver, with “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name" engraved on it in cursive. “This is Mackenzie.”

Will immediately nods, “Father Mackenzie.”

Sonny tells him, “He flew me out to Jerusalem, and got down on one knee in front of the wailing wall.”

Will cringes, and Sonny smacks him on the shoulder, “Hey. It was touching.”

He sets that one down, and picks up the last box, showing Will a silver ring with a rhythm strip.

“And this one is Brian. He proposed in the hospital he works at. The same one who's chapel we almost got married at. He pulled it out of the patient of one of his biggest surgeries.”

Will shudders, “Little too Alien for me.”

Sonny tells him, “Brian is Salem's best surgeon. Thought it was a very unique touch. And before you say anything about ethics, he later told me that the patient wasn't real, just a realistic looking dummy for the purpose of the proposal."

For the last ring, Sonny just holds up his left hand. “And finally, we have Paul.” When Will gets a closer look, he can see the ring has a baseball stitching design all around the ring.

“He proposed during the 7th inning stretch…” Sonny pauses here, “At a Cubs game.”

Will doesn't let him finish, “Wait. Don't tell me. The scoreboard lit up with, 'Will you marry me?’”

Sonny tells Will honestly, “It was one of the best moments of my life.”

Will shakes his head, “Little suspicious, don't you think?”

Sonny raises his eyebrows, “What? Come on. It was very romantic.”

Will's still skeptical, “If you have to go to all that trouble just to ask the question, it's not a true proposal.”

Will goes to sit down here, “I think the most anyone can say is, 'I want everyone to know, that out of everyone on this planet, the most amazing person I've ever had the privilege of knowing wants to be with me. And even if it's over within a year, or the next few minutes, there's nothing that would make me happier.”**

Wow. Sonny definitely wasn't expecting that. But he tries to cover, “Nice, but I'd like it even better on a scoreboard.”

But then, he wonders something. “Is that what you said to your wife?”

Will's surprised Sonny could pick up on that he'd been with a girl. 

Sonny tells him, “Don't look so shocked. You have divorce written all over you. Anyway, is that what you said to her?”

For a moment, he considers lying, but instead Will says, “Pfft. No. I think I said something super elegant like, 'So, you and me. We make a good team. Maybe we should, whaddya think, huh?'

Sonny has to laugh hearing that. “Oh wow. Make way for loverboy over here. And you still didn't marry your soulmate with a proposal like that?”

Will sighs and throws his hands in the air, embarrassed.

“What happened?”

Will decides there's no harm in telling Sonny the truth, “I don't know.”

Sonny can't believe it. “You seriously don't know?”

“Nope.”

Sonny has to try and knock some sense into Will here, “Ever thought about asking her?”

Will nods, not really thinking too hard on it. Then he shakes his head. “Alright. I think it's time we go take care of my end of the deal, don't you think?”

Whatever happened between them, it seems to be gone now. “You're right. Let's get going.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **what he said in his proposal to Sonny when he was in the hospital.


	15. Suit & Tie

Will and Sonny make their way to the tuxedo place, looking at the one featured on display.

“Despite everything, I still have yet to tie the knot, and I still deserve a killer tux.”

With that, the both of them enter the shop, and there's a little kid getting fit for a tuxedo in progress. Upon seeing Sonny, he moves to hide behind his dad.

Sonny asks him, “Hey, where are you going?”

The guy doing the measurements explains, “You'll have to excuse him. Some of the kids are afraid of you since you tripped that little boy.”

Sonny never thought too hard on it, but he still tries to explain, “No, no. He tripped on his shoelaces, not my foot.”

But that's all Sonny's able to get out, because Mr. Whittenmeyer walks up to him, greeting him, “Oh, Sonny. Good. You're here for your tuxedo.”

But Sonny's too excited, “Actually, Mr. W, I decided…” he tells him, leading him to the display window, “That I want to get this tux.”

Sonny smiles, hoping the older man shares his excitement. But unfortunately, that hope is in vain, because Mr. W says, “The one you have on hold is quite dashing.”

Sonny tries not to let the mood dampen, “Yeah, but I've changed my mind.”

But Mr. W isn't having it, “It's a thousand dollars, Sonny.”

Sonny says loud enough for Will to hear, “And I have a thousand dollars!”

Mr. W continues to hold firm, “The one you have on hold is only three hundred dollars.”

Sonny tries to hold onto the enthusiasm he came in the shop with, asking him, “Is that tuxedo for sale?”

Finally, Mr. W tells Sonny what he really thinks, “Just seems like a lot to spend on a tuxedo for you. After all, you always wind up only wearing them for about 10 minutes.”

And that's when Will really pays attention to Sonny here. Whatever excitement he had over getting a new tuxedo, it's gone, thanks to the shop owner's consistent bullying. Maybe it really isn't so easy being Sonny.

Deflated, Sonny goes to sit down, all his energy having been drained, “You're right. You're right. The other tuxedo is nice.”

Will will later chalk up what he does next to pure pity and sympathy, as he stands up and calls out to Mr. W, “Excuse me, Mr. Whittenmeyer, can I talk to you over here?”

After leading the older man away, Will starts asking, “I'm an out of towner. You're a salesperson, right? You sell tuxedos?”

Mr. W says proudly, “I've been at it for 30 years and counting.”

Will throws his head back in mock joy, “Oh, good. Mr. Kiriakis is here to buy one. And not just any tuxedo. He wants THAT tuxedo.” He tells him, pointing to it.

Mr. W tries to reason with Will, “It's a thousand dollars!”

Will claps his hands together in frustration, "Listen, I suck at verbal communication, so how about visual?”

Will shocks everyone, including Sonny, by going up to the display, picking up the mannequin with both hands, and saying,

“We're buying this tuxedo. This handsome tuxedo, and anything else he wants, he can have it. All right?”

Mr. W gives a pleading look to Sonny, but Sonny just says, “Don't look at me.”

When Sonny walks out in the tuxedo, he steps up onto the pedestal, asking Will, who's reading the newspaper, “Well? How'd I do?”

When Will looks up, he's shocked at how seriously attractive Sonny looks in that tuxedo.

“You look…” but he trails off here as he sees Sonny's expectant look. “You look fine.” Will finally says dismissively, going back to his paper.

Sonny sees right through it, “Fine? You're reading the paper upside down. Gotta be better than fine.”

When Will doesn't respond, Sonny tries again, “Come on. Look at me. Admire me! Try and picture me. I'll have my hair spiked with gel. Or maybe not, since we're mostly going au natural. And my favorite feature is that no matter which way I turn, I still look like a million bucks. See?”

Sonny turns, and he's right. “Here.” He turns again. “Here.” he turns two more times, “Here and here!”

Will admits, “Very nice choice. Paul's gonna love it.”

In all honesty, Sonny completely forgot about Paul. And that reminds him of something else.

“Right, Paul. Oh, Paul! We gotta get going. We're supposed to go meet him!”

Well that was an abrupt change of mood. Sonny runs back to change out of the tuxedo, while Will goes to take care of the bill.

First he stands up for Sonny, now he's actually able to see him as a groom? What the hell is happening to him?


	16. Hammerin' Eggs

Will, Sonny and Paul meet at the local diner, and despite it being afternoon, there's still plenty going on here. Breakfast is served all day, so something's always being fried, be it a burger, pancakes or eggs.

Paul calls Mr. Pressman, a waiter, over to them. “Excuse me, I think we're ready to order.”

Mr. Pressman pulls out a pad and tells them, “We're out of the special today because somebody didn't order enough sausage.”

Paul's not phased, “That's fine, I think today, I'll just have some avocado toast with two hard boiled eggs.” Paul orders, closing the menu.

Will can easily bet anything what Sonny's about to say, and sure enough, Sonny says, “That sounds good. I'll have that too.”

Will rolls his eyes, making an offhand comment of, “Of course.”

Sonny hears this, and immediately gets defensive, “What? I can't even order eggs without some comment from you?”

Paul's immediately trying to talk Sonny down, “Hey, hey. We're all on the same team, remember? You keep it up, I'm gonna have to bench you.”

To Will, Paul says, “Sonny is the most genuine guy you'll ever meet. But he focuses too much out there. He's gotta focus on in here.” He pats his chest.

“That’s why Sonny has had so many... whatever you want to call them. But failures will teach as much as success.”

Turning back to Sonny, “Alright? Focus on you. Focus on me.”

Will notices that as Paul's been talking, whatever excitement Sonny had initially of seeing his fiance has been snuffed out.

Paul tells Will, “I've been running Sonny through visualization exercises. Sports metaphors. Just gotta picture yourself hitting it right out of the park.”

Will decides not to comment, instead asking Sonny, “Tell me, when you're at the altar, do you spike your boutonniere?”

Sonny immediately tries to defend himself, “You know what, i-”

But Will doesn't give him a chance, throwing a few bucks on the counter, “Well, I'm outta here. Writer's work is never done. Bye, Mr. Pressman.”

Having seen that exchange, Mr. Pressman only says, “I'm gonna go focus on your eggs, Paul.”

On the way back to the hotel, Will inexplicably runs into Victor Kiriakis in the lobby, catching up with a friend.

“Good, good, you're here. I've actually been wanting to talk to you. There's actually a very good reason why we've had three weddings without a single 'I do’. You won't believe how much cake was left over from all those shindigs! It's a miracle we don't all have diabetes! Not to mention, all that booze Justin bought that nobody drank. But as you can imagine, that was alright with him.”

“Hi, Uncle Vic.” Sonny greets his uncle, giving him a small hug, while holding something unseen in a bag he's carrying.

Will informs him, “Your uncle here was telling me the real reason you run from eternal happiness.”

Victor picks up where he left off, “Right. It's not that he doesn't want to get married. It's that he's scared of the wedding night!”

Will pretends to consider this, but he can tell from Sonny's reaction that he shouldn't take this answer seriously.

“He may seem like a playboy, galavanting all over Europe with hot Italian guys, but he's really just a Mama's boy."

Which is when Sonny finally decides that's enough, and whispers to Victor, “Uh, Victor? I haven't been a Mama's boy in a while now.”

Some fog seems to have cleared in Victor's head, because he says next, “Oh yeah. Right.”

Then, Sonny asks Victor, louder so Will can hear, “Could you excuse is for a moment?” Turning to Will, “Can I talk to you outside?”

Will sees no reason why not, so he bids Victor and his friend farewell, and follows Sonny outside.

Sonny pulls something out of the bag, telling Will, “Found this, and since I don't really care for it, didn't know if it was worth keeping.”

Will can't believe what Sonny's holding, “Tokyo Fab? Are you serious?”

Sonny explains, “I was just cleaning out some junk, and-.”

Will's still ecstatic, “Can't believe there's still one floating around. You should hang onto this. Worth a lot of money in the right circles.”

But Sonny has other plans, “Why don't you have it?”

Will is positive he heard wrong, “What?”

Sonny repeats, “Take it.” And goes to leave Will with the record.

Will's still looking at the record album, but he has to say something here, “You figured out what music I like, and you found me a rare album. You trying to butter me up?”

Sonny turns back, and only says, “I was cleaning out junk, not attempting the impossible.”

Back inside, Victor tells his friend, “Uh oh. Trouble's afoot."


	17. Never Saw Blue Like That

Will's driving back towards his hotel when he sees Sonny's car parked in front of the pub. Might be something worth looking into.

He turns at the fork, and then, he sees the real reason Sonny's here; he's taking his dad home, one arm over his shoulders, who's clearly plastered.

Sonny, meanwhile, has to deal with Justin's mild complaining, such as, “You know, ever since you got your driver's license, I haven't had nearly as much fun.”

Sonny can only say, “Yeah, well, it hasn't exactly been sunshine and rainbows for me either.”

Finally, they're at his car, and he opens the back door, telling his dad, “Lean down, I'll push.”

But then, the door on the other side opens, and suddenly Will Horton is helping Justin scoot further in, telling him, “Easy. Nice and easy.”

Sonny seriously doesn't have time for this, “Oh, god, don't write any-.”

Lucky for Sonny, upon seeing them together, that never crossed Will's mind, “Forget about it.” And continues to assist Sonny until Justin's completely situated in the backseat, and they close the doors.

Relieved he doesn't have to worry about Will making this worse, he admits out loud, “God, I am so damn tired of this.”

Will decides to be nice here, and offer him a break, “What do you say to letting him sleep it off in the backseat, and we just go for a drive?”

Sonny thinks about turning him down, but really, it's between taking care of his drunk father, who he loves dearly, or taking a drive with a man he can't stand so he can get away from his drunk father for a little bit. There really isn't a choice at all.

Sonny looks at Will, nods, and says, “Okay.”

It begins to get darker as they drive away, down the highway. To kill time, they talk about their personal histories.

“My dad's been drinking real heavily since my mom, Adrienne, passed away.”

Will asks, “And that's why you came back?”

Sonny replies, “Yeah. Had to help run Titan Industries along with opening my own place.”

Will decides to open up a little more, “Ever since my parents got divorced, I stopped just being their son and turned into this thing that they had to have instead of the other. Which meant I had to spend a lot of time by myself, so I turned to writing. Somehow that translated into reporter.”

Sonny's silent the entire time, because once again, Will Horton has managed to surprise him. He never thinks about people like Will having parents, and yet here Will is, talking openly about them.

Unfortunately, the moment’s cut short when they realize both that it's now completely dark, and that Will's car is suddenly slowing down, before backfiring, startling Will, and coming to a stop.

Sonny asks, “What kind of gas did you put in your tank?”

Will doesn't really get why this is relevant, “I don't know. The closest one to the tank!”

Sonny just calmly gets out of the car, pops open the hood, and within minutes, he's figured out the problem, “Your filter's clogged. You put Diesel fuel in a car that needs unleaded. I can fix it, but we're gonna need to borrow some tools.”

Will sighs, shutting off the engine and getting out. “Great. Looks like we're Flintstoning it back.” And starts walking away.

“Or, we can go the other way, towards a place right around here, and ask to borrow their tools.” Will turns around at Sonny's suggestion, seeing where he's pointing at.

“Us small town folk cut across the field. Saves loads of time.”

Will decides he has nothing to lose, so he starts to follow Sonny, when he hears, “Oh yeah. Watch out for snakes.”

That makes Will flinch. “What?”

Sonny says again, a little further away, “Snakes?”

That makes Will start jumping around, “Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?”

Sonny teases, “Aw, come on Wilma. They ain't gonna touch you.”

Then Will decides, screw it, and runs with his legs spread out, it's one of the funniest things Sonny's ever seen. “Fine. Come on, come on, let's go.”

Sonny asks, “What the hell are you doing? Some sort of snake dance?”

Will calls back, “I'm scaring the snakes!”

Sonny laughs, and says, “You're starting to scare me.”

Will laughs despite himself, “I'm starting to scare myself!”

Once Will's calmed down enough, Sonny asks him, “So, you think there's one true soulmate out there for everyone?”

Will thinks about it for a moment before answering, “Maybe. But too often, rightness and actual attraction are easily confused. And even if there's attraction on both ends, it's incredibly distracting.”

Sonny agrees, “Of course. And it doesn't even have to mean anything at all.”

Finally, they get to a fence, a clear indicator they've reached the property. Will moves to help boost Sonny up so he can get over the fence.

The initial touch that comes from that boost is a shock for Sonny, so much so, that he actually forgets where he is for a moment, choosing instead to look at Will's face.

Will, meanwhile, has no idea what he's feeling either, and when the moment passes, it's Sonny who speaks up first,

“Been climbing mountains since I came of age, and now I've suddenly forgotten how to climb a wooden fence.”

Finally, they're both over the fence, and they walk towards Lionel, who's just sitting on the front porch. “Hey, Lionel! You got any tools we can borrow?” Sonny calls.

Lionel calls back, “Well, if it isn't Sonny Kiriakis. What are you gonna do, bust out of another weddin’?”

Will laughs when he hears that, lightly teasing, in a fake southern accent, “You sure seem to be well known around these here parts.”

Eventually, they get the tools, fix the car, and they both go their separate ways, Sonny taking his dad home, Will back to the hotel.

Tomorrow, Will's still got one more groom to interview. Hopefully he still frequents the bar where he told Will about Sonny.


	18. From My Head to My Heart

Next morning, Will takes his car and drives back to Chicago, while also talking to T on the phone,

“No, no. It's almost done, honestly. But you'll be interested to know that the story's taken quite an interesting turn. But I got one more important interview I got to do in Wichita. I'll see you and Gabi later though.”

Will hangs up, and the rest of the drive is silent as he makes his way back to the bar.

Luck must be on his side, cause the guy, who Will now knows is Brian, the third groom, is still here. He looks a lot better than last time, too.

Will walks up to him, whispering, “You know, you could've told me that you were the third groom.”

Brian laughs, “What, so I could be ridiculed right alongside him? Yeah no. I've had enough humiliation to last generations, thank you very much.

But Brian is nice enough to still answer Will's questions, “I was traveling around, trying to help find a cure for childhood leukemia.”

Will nods, “Save the kids, save the world.”

Brian is quick to contradict, “No, not the world. Not yet. But I did get something good going working with the famous Dr. Wilhelm Rolf.”

And just like that, all joking is gone. Guess Sonny sure knows how to pick them. No matter what anyone else thought about them, they were all around good guys with accomplishments under their belts.

Brian laughs now, telling Will, “You know, Sonny was the only guy I'd ever met that wasn't scared of reaching in his bare hand into an open wound. On the first date, no less.”

Will moves onto the next question, “So tell me, Brian, why do you think he ran?”

The light-heartedness leaves again, and Brian takes a swig of his drink before answering, “Just like you wrote it in black and white. A heartbreaker. Angry little Earthshaker.”

Will tells Brian, “Yeah, that's what I wrote. But I don't think that's why he ran.”

Brian, is surprised to hear Will Horton say this, “Why do you think he ran, then?”

Will sips his own drink, “Not sure yet. Still working on that part. I had it all wrong.”

Brian demands, “Are you actually defending him?”

Will vehemently denies it, “No! Of course not.”

But Brian apparently sees something Will doesn't, “Oh no. He got to you too.”

Will can't believe what he's hearing, “Oh, please! What the hell are you talking about?”

Brian gets up and slides his drink over to Will, “Here. You need this way more than me.”

Will keeps defending himself, “I'm a reporter, writing an article.” He pulls out his notebook, “See? It's gonna be published as a cover story. All the facts will be in the article.”

But seeing how Brian is walking away, Will decides to get at least one more question before he loses him,

“What kind of eggs did he like?”

He readies his pen, ready to jot down the answer the second Brian says it.

“Scrambled with potatoes bacon, and a pumpkin spice latte from my hospital's cafeteria. Same as me.”

And with that, Brian has left the bar.

Once Will's written it down, he shakes his head in disbelief. He knew he was onto something about this egg thing.

“Shake Shack and a seriously overpriced apartment. Now that's Chicago living.” T says from the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Gabi and Will are talking on the couch.

“God, sometimes he makes me so crazy!” Gabi says, throwing her hand up.

Will jokes, “Hostility is part of your foreplay, ain't it?”

Gabi jokes back, “Three people to make our marriage work. Me, him, and our therapist.”

It's nice that they can still joke together like this, even though her and Will aren't married anymore. Which reminds Will.

“Gabi, what went wrong?” At Gabi's blank look, Will clarifies, “With us. The two of us. I know it's been a while, but do you remember?”

Gabi is looking at Will like he's an idiot, “Do I remember what went wrong? Of course. I was there, remember?”

That leaves Will stuttering, “Did I do that? Is that wh-. Did I just not see you?”

Seeing that Will's serious, she tells him the truth, “Will. Come on. You're gay, and I let you pretend you weren't.”

Upon hearing that, Will wraps an arm around her and says, “I'm sorry. I really am.”

Gabi assures him, “I'm sorry too, Will.”

But just like that, the tension is gone, and now they're back to friends. Even Gabi can feel it, “Wow. 12 years, and we finally said it.”

Then T comes in with food, and with stomachs grumbling, they move so T can set the food down.

Will reminds himself that he can't stay too long, if he wants to make it in time for the pre-wedding New Year's Eve party.


	19. Auld Lang Syne

The party's well on its way by dark. A band somewhere plays the classic, “Auld Lang Syne”, everyone's either wearing a "Happy New Year" headband, blowing on a noisemaker, or both. The entire barn is adorned in classic New Year's Eve colors, silver, black and gold. For a small town, these folk sure know how to throw a party.

In one section, a small dance competition has begun, and someone with a camera makes sure to get a fair amount of footage of it.

Once that ends, everyone claps for them, and finally, Mr. Pressman announces, “Here they are, folks. The Babies New Year, Sonny and Paul!”

The couple of the hour are both fully adorned appropriately with New Year's Eve sashes, with Sonny's suit covered in confetti, and while everyone claps for them, Sonny can't help but take a look around searching for a certain reporter he hasn't seen all day.

Around them, people are dancing, or drinking.

Meanwhile, Chad's caught on to Sonny's constant eye-darting, and calls him on it,

“You gotta lighten up, Baby New Year.”

Sonny plays dumb, “Lighten what up?”

Chad isn't having it, “The entire town has gone to all the trouble to make this party for you and Paul. Forget about the reporter.”

“Excuse me for being a little paranoid because I haven't seen him in 24 hours, and would rather know where he was than not.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Chad spots the man in question, and challenges Sonny, “You sure about that?”

At Sonny's confused look, Chad gestures with his head, and sure enough, Will has just arrived, also in New Year's Eve bling, with a few necklaces around his neck. Sonny watches as Will heads to where they're serving themed drinks.

“What can I get you, Mr. Horton?” Mr. Trout, Martha Trout’s husband, asks.

Will looks at the other drinks, then asks, “Uh, anything here that doesn't come with a noisemaker?”

Okay, whatever. Will's here, now he can focus on having fun at his pre wedding party.

Or so he thinks. Because while the party continues, he never moves from his spot, feeling more and more alienated as he watches everyone else have fun, and he's just...not.“

"Buenas noches.” A voice from behind him says, making Sonny jump slightly. But he doesn't need to turn around to know who it is.

“That's quite a flattering sash you're sporting.” Will whispers in his ear, and Sonny can't help the tingles it sends down his spine.

Sonny tries to come back down to Earth, “Where'd you run off to?”

Will gives an amused smile at this, joking, “Aw, I didn't know you cared, Sonny.”

But then, it looks like Paul has been revealed as the winner of the contest, and after a round of applause, it's time for food.

True to the theme, all the party food typically seen at a New Year's Eve party are there, from crostinis and skewers, to parfaits and a marvelous ladyfinger eggnog cheesecake made by Mrs. Trout herself.

Sonny asks Will as the food's being served, half joking, “You're not allergic to anything, are you?” At Will's denial, Sonny feigns disappointment, only saying, “Pity.” as he goes to sit by his fiance.

All is silent for a while as everyone eats, but it's when the eggnog cheesecake is served that everyone starts banging their plastic utensils on the table, and Justin takes this as his cue to stand up and say,

“In tradition, this is right about the time where we start toasting.”

Everyone starts clapping. Clearly, this is a tradition loved by many in this town.

“First up, the one that made all this possible: Lou Trout, Martha's amazing husband.”

People clap as Lou stands up, drink in hand, but what everyone misses is Chad looking down, holding his head in his hands, knowing what's coming next, and wishing he didn't have to witness it again.

“May Paul's heart be filled with love…”he pauses for effect, “And Sonny's feet filled with lead.”

And that's when Will realizes what's happening, and he decides to watch Sonny's reaction, to see if he stands up for himself, and yet knowing he won't.

Martha's up next, who goes for a more light-hearted approach, “May the pitter patter of little feet not be Sonny's.”

Will sees Sonny give a humoring smile, which is big of him, Will supposes.

Then it's Mr. Pressman, “May all the wedding gifts be returnable.”

Someone else pipes up, “May the back of the tux be as handsome as the front!”

So far, it's pretty lighthearted, and Sonny still has a smile on his face as he holds Paul's hand, but then Justin gets back up to give his own,

“You know the saying, 'you're not losing a son’? Well, I'd like to!”

Everyone laughs at this, but Will watches as for the first time since they started, Sonny's smile slips.

Justin continues, “Sonny may not be Salem's longest running joke…”

Will watches Sonny mouth along with his father for the next part, clearly having heard this before. Sonny's barely smiling at all now.

“But he's certainly the fastest!”

Once that's past, Sonny's weak attempt at a smile isn't fooling Will at all. Not even when Sonny says, “Nice one, Dad.”

And then someone pipes up, “Hey, Justin! How about Mr. Horton says something!”

Will's moving over to where Sonny's sitting as Justin asks, “Yeah, how about it, Will?”

Will dismisses it, telling them, “Yeah, hang on. Not sure.” He turns his attention to Sonny, squatting down and asking, “Are you okay?”

Justin rallies up the crowd again by egging Will on, “Come on, Will! Take a good old whack at Sonny. So much more satisfying than words on a page.”

People start banging their utensils again, while Sonny can't take his eyes off of Will, who's staring at him so intently.

“Excuse me?” Is all Sonny can say, being so wrapped up in the toasts, and then suddenly being brought back to reality by Will Horton.

Paul chimes in, “It's just a joke, Will. They're kidding.”

But Justin won't give up, “Yeah, come on, Will! Give it a go!”

Seeing they're not gonna stop, Will stands up, finally agreeing, “All right. You want a toast? I'll give you a toast.”

Will raises his drink, making sure all eyes are on him as he speaks,

“To all of Sonny's family and friends. May you find yourselves the equivalent of a sitting duck.”

There's complete silence as they realize what's happening, but Will's not done yet,

“May you be publicly humiliated for every bad choice you've ever made, and may everyone else never let YOU hear the end of them.”

Still complete silence, but now all eyes are now on Sonny, who feels even worse than before Will spoke up.

Finally, Mrs. Trout speaks up, “All right, enough toasting! Let's dance!”

While that's happening, Sonny abruptly stands up, and makes his way out of the venue. Chad follows, calling, “Sonny? Sonny!” But seeing Will has also followed them, he hands Will a jacket, telling him, “Here, take this. It's a real nip out there."

Watching Will leave, Chad then distracts Paul so Will can be alone with Sonny.

Sonny makes a run for it until he's a fair enough distance away from the barn, and pauses with his hands on his knees.

He hears footsteps behind him, and for a moment, he's hopeful it's Paul, here to make everything alright again.

But he should've known he couldn't be that lucky. Of course it's Will who shows up with a jacket, telling him, “Here. It's freezing out here.” as he attempts to wrap it around his shoulders.

But something in Sonny snaps, and he smacks the jacket down on the ground, snapping,

“I've had about enough of you pretending to be a nice guy!”

But Will's not about to let Sonny get away with that, “Excuse me? Did you seriously just say that to the only goddamn person in there who was actually defending you?”

Sonny spits at him, “Defending me? You fucking humiliated me!”

Will retorts, “No, dumbass. That's what everyone else was doing. I was defending you! Forget New Year's Eve, humiliation is the true theme tonight.”

Sonny refuses to let Will get the best of him, “It was fine! Completely under control! Hope you're satisfied, cause now they all feel sorry for me.”

Will fires back, “Well, they should! They're about to watch you leave another groom at the altar!”

Sonny's so flustered, he doesn't even know what he's saying, “Why do you keep-.”

But Will's not interested in whatever Sonny was about to say, cutting him off, getting in his face, “Tell me, do you actually give a shit about climbing the K2?”

Sonny's desperate enough to where he'll say anything to cover up the fact that Will's seriously getting under his skin,

“It's fun! It's exhilarating!”

Will has another one, “Curing childhood leukemia?”

Sonny can answer honestly here, “That was a worthwhile cause Brian was doing!”

Will keeps going, “What kind of asshole backs out on a couple's tattoo?”

Sonny can't believe he's bringing that up now, “I already told you what happened there!”

Will asks, “Were you ever actually going to be a traveling missionary?”

This one actually surprises Sonny, “Mackensie told you that?”

Will jokes to himself, “Or maybe you just wanted to wear the golden underwear.”

Finally, Sonny finds his voice, “Every single goddamn one of those times I was being supportive! Something you clearly know nothing about!”

But Will's quick to call his bluff, “There was nothing supportive about it, and you know it! That was you scared! You were then, you are now! You are seriously the most lost man-.”

Sonny feels slapped when he hears that, “Lost?”

Will goes on, “Yes, lost. You're so lost, you-you don't even know what kind of eggs you like!” And that's when he realizes he's got Sonny right where he wants him. “Yes, yes!”

Sonny is completely confused, “What?”

Will barrels into him, “Yeah, that's right, you indecisive bastard. With Mack, it was over hard. With Neil, it was a frittata with a mimosa. With the doctor, it was cafeteria scrambled with a latte. And now it's hard boiled over avocado toast, thank you very much.”

  
  
  
  


Sonny has no idea why this is even coming up when the answer is so obvious, “It's called changing your mind! Give it a try sometime!”

But Will calls him on this too, “No, it's called not having a mind of your own!”

Will's so frustrated about this argument not going anywhere, he just has to know, “What the hell are you doing, Sonny? You really want that baseball player to drag you through Khirsu for your honeymoon?” and then, he doesn't even ask this time, he explicitly states it, “You do not want to travel around Khirsu!”

Sonny just has to say something, anything, here, before Will says anything else, getting up in Will's face, “Yes I do!”

Will backs up and sighs, thinking, then realizes what he needs to say here, the one thing that might make Sonny think twice,

“No, you don't. You've been doing stuff like that your whole damn life. You want someone you can hold up when they can't do it themselves, because they remind you every single day are worth it.

You want someone who always encourages you to have your own life, just so you can remind him he is your life. You want someone that despite what anyone says about them, they don't see what you see.”

Well, one thing is for sure. Will's definitely succeeded in wiping the floor with Sonny. Sonny can't tell if his brain short circuited, or if every word Will said is actually true. Regardless, Sonny can't think of a single word to say to that.

“Am I right?” Will asks quietly, and at first, Sonny walks away from Will, but those three words seem to have helped Sonny's brain come back online, because Sonny finally feels like he can actually fire something back, and not just one sentence either.

Sonny abruptly turns back around and points accusingly at him, “Stop it. Just fucking stop it! This Sunday, I'm going to be getting married to Paul Narita. The only thing you're doing is trying to convince me to run. Wanna know why? Cause you're a bitter, cynical, ill-intentioned dick who wouldn't know his own soulmate if he murdered him! All you ever do is destroy people, laugh at them, and criticize every goddamn aspect of their lives, because you're too scared to go get one of your own! And you wanna know something else? I've read your columns! That's right, and you know something? I noticed not once did you ever write anything about yourself. I may be lost, but I'm not the only one. Am I right?” Sonny walks slowly, for emphasis, “Am. I. Right?”

And wouldn't you know it, that's when Paul finally does show up. Both Will and Sonny are breathing heavily from yelling at each other, not saying a word.

“Hey, Sonny.” You'd think after Sonny stormed out, Paul would know what he'd need to do or say to help him. But apparently Chad's distraction was to rattle baseball statistics, because Paul says, “Hey, Son. Help me out here. Milwaukee. Played shortstop.”

Paul wraps an arm around Sonny, pointedly looking at Will, then asks Sonny, “You alright?”

Sonny manages to put on a brave face before answering, “Yes.”

Paul kisses Sonny's cheek, “Let's go back inside.”

Sonny doesn't respond, just lets Paul lead him back towards the barn, leaving Will just standing there.

Faintly, he hears Sonny respond, “Robin Yount.”

Paul gives a little fist pump at finally knowing the answer, but otherwise, doesn't comment on anything else.

Will finally lets out a breath he'd been holding since Paul showed up. Goddamn. Sonny just might be the most stubborn man he's ever met, but now, Will can only hope he made some kind of dent. Otherwise, this story will truly stop the presses.


	20. The Wedding March

The next morning, Sonny's feeling a little better after last night's New Year's Eve fiasco. He comes into the kitchen to find Victor making lunch, and Justin goofing around, juggling eggs.

“Morning, Uncle Vic.” Sonny greets him. “What's on the menu?”

Victor responds, “Yak butter tea. Just how you like it.”

Justin decides this is the perfect moment to throw in another Runaway Gay joke, “Hey, Sonny. Victor and I were just talking. Whaddya say to starting a bunch of attractions for the town, pump some money into the town's economy? Display all your previous tuxes at the shop, wedding gift museum…” Justin laughs at his own joke, clearly pleased with himself.

But instead of just ignoring it, Sonny surprises everyone by turning around and saying, “You know what, Dad? Just stop it.”

Clearly Justin wasn't expecting this. “What?”

Sonny goes on, “As of now, I don't want to hear one more word or joke like that. Understand?”

Justin doesn't really get why Sonny's getting so upset. “It was just a joke…” Justin attempts to defend himself.

But Sonny knows better, “No, it really isn't. It's embarrassing, and I think I've put up with this shit long enough. I know, it's a pain in the ass to have a son with issues. But did you ever consider that it's a pain in the ass for me to have a dad that's always drunk?”

Satisfied he got Justin's attention, Sonny picks up his sandwich, says, “I'm eating in my room.” and walks out of the kitchen.

Abi asks Chad as Chad keeps driving towards the church, “Remind me why Sonny's having another wedding rehearsal? And two days before, no less! Didn't he already go through this whole song and dance?”

Chad can't really understand it either, other than what Paul told him. “Something lit a fire under Paul's ass, so he's decided that Sonny really needs to get a really good picture of what the wedding is gonna look like one more time.”

But then they're there, so they park the car in an empty spot, and head inside, where Paul is giving orders to everyone. Chad sits in one of the pews, waiting for his orders.

“Alright, we're ready to get this thing going. Sonny, you wanna tell Will to amscray?”

But Sonny has something much more interesting in mind. He looks right at Will, and says with all the sweetness of poisoned honey,

“No way! In fact, let's make Will the pastor.”

Will attempts to not make things any worse by saying, “Actually, I'd rather just watch.”

But Sonny's determined to milk this for everything it's worth, “Aw, come on! Where's your sense of sportsmanship? You'll have a perfect view of everything! It's perfect!”

Paul grabs Will's arm, leading him to the front of the aisle. “Crew effort, Pastor Will.”

Seeing he has no choice, Will goes with it, standing still as he's released once he's in the pastor's spot.

Meanwhile, Chad is in the back, asking Sonny, “Are you sure you want Will as the pastor?” Because Chad can't help feeling this has “bad idea” written all over it.

Sonny's firm in his decision, “Yes! I want him front and center, so he can see every little thing.”

Chad has to ask, because he knows something had to have happened, “What the hell happened at New Year's Eve?”

But Sonny can't bear to recall that painful memory twice in two days, “I don't want to talk about New Year's Eve, okay?”

Upon seeing some sort of rope behind Chad, he grabs it, asking, “What the hell is this?”

Chad helpfully says, “It's the bell.”

Then, Abi comes into where they're talking, saying, “Paul's in a bit of a rush.”

Paul also calls out from the aisle, “Come on, let's move!”

Chad and Abi immediately start trying to motivate Sonny to get ready to walk down the aisle.

“So remember what Paul said. Visualize.”

“Be the ball.”

“Knock it out if the park.”

“Eyes on the prize.”

"Shut up and pitch.”

But Sonny covers their mouths before they can say one more baseball related thing, “Get your asses in gear.”

Paul calls them again, and Chad and Abi make their way back to where Paul is, while Sonny just can't stop being fascinated by the rope connected to the bell.

Just for shits and giggles, he gives it a good pull, and he's surprised by how strongly the rope pulls back, swinging him around as the bell above him rings loudly.

Meanwhile, everyone else is at the front of the aisle, waiting on Sonny, who's laughing his ass off while still swinging and ringing the bell.

Paul asks Chad, “What is he doing?”

Chad attempts to joke here, “Instead of the ball, he's being the bell.”

Behind them, Will can't help but make his own joke here as the bell keeps ringing. “Sanctuary. Sanctuary.”

Finally, Paul has to ask, “Sonny, you alright?”

With one last ring, Sonny straightens himself out, finally making his appearance in the doorway. “Alright.”

He takes his place at the end of the aisle, gesturing the organist to begin his cue, and once “Canon in D” starts, he starts walking, but Will notices that Sonny's taking the smallest of steps here. Will rolls his eyes, noting, “Jesus. It's gonna be an evening wedding at this snail's pace.”

That seems to put some sort of urgency in Paul, because he quickly says, “All right. I get what's going on here. We're moving too fast here, aren't we? And that's making you tense up, isn't it?”

Sonny frozen, not sure if Paul's right, or if it's something else he doesn't even want to acknowledge.

But Paul's all about fixing it, telling Will, “Will, take my place. I'm gonna go help Sonny move faster. Stay put so he knows where to go. Babe? I'm walking with you, alright?”

Chad turns to look at Abi, who's thinking the same thing Chad says, “Now Will's the groom?”

Paul's by Sonny's side, massaging Sonny's arms, shaking them loose, whispering to motivate him, “You are the ball, flying towards the plate, into the waiting arms of your groom.”

This seems to help, as “Canon in D” begins again, and Sonny slowly repeats Paul's mantra.

“I'm flying through the air. I am...”

But then he sees Will at the end, and his train of thought is temporarily derailed.

“Soaring…”

Not only that, but Will's staring right back. They couldn't look away even if they wanted to. Whatever it was they're both missing, it's all right there, in each other's eyes.

“Towards...the home plate.”

Sonny's suddenly moving a lot faster, and before they all know it, Sonny's next to Will, finishing his sentence,

“And I land right in front of the bat.”

Somewhere, Paul says, “Good. Now I'm the pastor, I say, 'Dearly beloved, yada yada yada. You may now kiss.’ and the organ crescendos.”

The organ complies, and Paul's still walking everyone through it, “Then we're hand in hand, back down the aisle. And just like that we're-.”

But at what he sees going on behind him, he stops.

On Will and Sonny's side, they're moving ever closer to each other, like magnets, and before anyone can say anything or stop them, they're kissing.

Holy shit. Of all the ways they could've imagined it, none of them came close to the real thing. It's so sweet, so addicting, neither of them can bring themselves to stop. Hell, they can't really say they want to.

Paul, at first, can't really process what he's seeing, still smiling, but once it sinks in, the smile immediately drops.

The organ keeps going all the way through the song, then finally stops, but Will and Sonny still keep kissing.

Not even Chad's shout of, “No!” is enough to make them stop.

Finally, Paul actually does the appropriate thing here and moves towards them, saying, “Sonny? Son-.”

And finally, the two break apart, having somehow found a way to come back down to Earth after that kiss.

And what do they do once they realize what they just did? They laugh. And not the feel-good kind of laughing either. The hysterical, “What the hell just happened?” kind of laughing.

Somehow, they manage to pull themselves back together, and take a breath.

Paul attempts to salvage some part, any part, of what he just saw.

“Okay, Sonny, if you were picturing me, that was perfect. So what the hell were you doing?” Paul directs that last question at Will, and Will has to be honest here, for both their sakes, “Paul, I'm really, really sorry, but your fiance kissed me back.”

Sonny's still stunned, asking, “Oh I did, did I?”

Will confirms, “Yes you did. You most definitely kissed me back.”

Paul can't believe they're stating the obvious, “I saw it myself, I'm not an idiot. Care to share with the class how long this has been going on?”

Sonny admits, “About 45 seconds.”

But Will's got a surprise for Sonny, “A bit longer for me.”

And that makes Sonny feel a little bit better about it, “Oh! Really?”

Paul's so pissed, he demands, “What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

Seeing how Sonny's still a little starstruck, Will covers, making a joke,

“Well, Paul, I suppose you could say, 'I hope you two will be very happy together.”

It's a dick move, and Will knows it, but he's still not prepared for the hard bang into his face, knocking him back, as well as knocking the wind out of him. In hindsight, Will realizes Paul's just swung his pitching arm at him, landing a solid punch right on his face.

But still, Paul actually does say, “I hope you two will be very happy together.” as he storms out.

That seems to have done the trick to help Sonny out of his state of paralysis, because he turns to tell Chad, “You go take care of him, alright?” before chasing after Paul.

Chad rushes to Will's side, as Will clutches his face, wincing at the throbbing pain from where Paul punched him. “Yikes. Are you okay?”

Will waves it off, “Yeah, yeah. Nothing I didn't deserve.”

Paul bursts through the doors, beelining straight for his car.

Sonny calls for him, “Paul? Paul! I'm so, so sorry. At least it was before the wedding this time. Progress in the making. But you are gonna find someone that will make you so much happier than I ever could.”

Out of nowhere, a man goes up to Paul, and Sonny has to point it out.

“See? What'd I tell you? It's happening already!”

But Paul ignores all of this, just focused on getting the hell out of there.

As Paul drives away, and Sonny says goodbye to Chad, what seems like an eternity later, Will finally joins Sonny outside, telling him, “Kid wants to lock up and head home.”

But neither of them really give a shit, they're way too focused on what just happened in there.

“How's Paul?” Will asks, to be polite.

Sonny acts nonchalant, “Hm. He'll be alright.”

But in the distance, they can hear the screech of tires, and a horn honking, contradicting that statement.

Sonny's the first to take the first step, “So, what the hell was that back there?”

Will's about as lost as Sonny feels, stammering, “I have no idea. I-I-I--. You know what? I don't even want to talk about it.”

Sonny quickly agrees. “Yeah. Me too.”

They both nod in agreement, fake smiles on their faces.

But one look at each other and it's all over. They're kissing again, and it even looks like it might become more passionate, now that they're alone.

But surprisingly, it's Will that stops this time. “Wait no. Stop, stop.”

Sonny doesn't see what the trouble is, asking through their kissing, “Hmm?”

But Will's firm, “No no no. We gotta stop. We need to talk about some stuff first. Talking. You know, like mature people do.” Will firmly pushes Sonny away, pushing him towards a rail to lean on.

“O-kay. I was kind of liking that-. Okay.”

“I just-i just need some space here.” Will says, backing away until he's leaning on the other railing.

For a while, they just stand there, staring at each other, Sonny waiting to see what Will's about to say next. But whatever it is, Sonny only hopes that it's even better than kissing.

Will has no idea how to word what he's thinking. Hell, he has no idea if Sonny would be crazy enough to go along with it. But at this point, after destroying Sonny's engagement, supposedly the absolute lowest he could possibly sink, how bad could anything else he could suggest possibly be?

Resolved, Will takes a breath, then, finally, he speaks.


	21. If I'm Dreamin', Please Don't Wake Me Up

“Do you think we-.” Will attempts to speak, but cuts himself off when it comes out completely wrong.

Sonny, for his credit, just waits for Will to get to the real point of what he's trying to say.

Will decides to just say it, and screw how crazy it sounds, “Well, you have the tux.”

Sonny's completely confused. He has no idea what Will's getting at here, so he plays along, “Uh huh. Got a church too, as you no doubt remember.”, shaking his head slightly, like he's saying, 'What the hell are you trying to say?’

Seeing Sonny's not connecting the dots, Will adds, “And a wedding date. In two days. Along with us two.”

Sonny thinks he might know where Will's going with this, but he lets Will continue, “Maybe... you'll be going down the aisle after all. With somebody that you obviously have deep feelings for, and whose feelings are reciprocated.”

Sonny asks him, “Who?”, pointing at Will in question.

Will doesn't even respond. He's laid it all out there. Now it's Sonny's turn to decide what he wants to do.

Sonny points at Will again, but at the same time, pictures himself running out of the church holding Will's hand, getting on the family jet and waving goodbye to all his family and friends, as the jet flies them to their honeymoon.

Once this little fantasy ends, Sonny finds that he actually doesn't completely hate the idea.

“Sounds good to me.”

Will smiles, and says, “Me too.”

Sonny laughs then, cause holy shit. He's just made a commitment to marry the man that he thought he would've run out of town a long time ago.

Will is opening up his little notebook, jotting down one small note here.

‘I'm getting married in two days.’

Since the two of them don't really have a lot of time before the big day, they decide to make the best of the one day they do have.

All around town, people are making necessary adjustments.

The letters on the church's sign are taking down Paul's name to replace it with Will's.

Sonny, meanwhile, is showing Will one of his many hidden talents; cat's cradle.

Will asks him, “You do this a lot?”

Sonny reminds him, “Well, it is the sticks. Not much else to do.”

Later, Sonny's with Chad, Abi, and Uncle Vic at the Common Grounds, just talking about Will.

Abi tells him, “He’s actually listening to you.”

Chad, “His teeth, a blank slate.”

Victor shocks everyone by saying, “He's got a nice ass.”

Sonny's blown away by this, telling him, “Uncle Vic!”

Victor blows it off, saying, “Well, he does!”

Will's back in his hotel room, calling Gabi to tell her the good news,

“I'll see you both there tomorrow, right? You'll both be there? 37 hours from now.”

“ I didn't miss the first one.” Gabi jokingly reminds him.

At the Common Grounds, Sonny's telling them about what Will's gonna do after they're married,

“Part of it is gonna be here in Salem, cause Will realized he wants to write a book.”

In Will's room, he's just told Gabi the same thing. “That's great! You've always wanted to write a novel!”

Glad Gabi is happy for him, he tells her, “I feel really inspired here. Like I can actually write. Better yet, I WANT to write.”

After they hang up, Gabi tells T, “Will's getting hitched.”

T screams and jumps up and down in excitement. But Gabi has to warn him, “T, if you wet yourself all over the floor, I'm gonna murder you.”

At the Common Grounds, the phone's just rang, and after Abi answers it, he tells Sonny, “It's him. He's on the phone!”

Sonny snatches it, and the others scramble to get the plug in cord untangled. “Hey, Silly Willy.”

“Hi.”

Sonny feigns nonchalance, “What're you up to?

Will tells him, “Nothing at all. What're you doing?”

Sonny parrots him, “Nothin’.”

Will looks out the window, telling Sonny, “Wowsers. I can see a super hunky guy from here.”

Sonny's first reaction is to roll his eyes at the cheesiness here, but he can't deny he thinks it's also just a little bit cute. He whispers to the others, “He can see me.”

Still, later, Will and Sonny are playing strip poker, and it turns out they're both worthy opponents. Both of them have been reduced to their boxers.

As they lay down their hands, Sonny's declared the winner, and Sonny calls him out, “Knew you were gonna try and cheat. But you can't cheat a cheater. Doesn't work!”

Will just grabs him in an attack hug, before they calm down and go again.

Again, Sonny's the winner, and this time he jumps up, “In your face! I am the Ultimate Poker Champion!” Will just takes in the view of Sonny in his boxers.

A few other things they do before the day ends are to mess around with a tire swing, Sonny swinging around while Will reads a novel and pushes him.

And then, it's night time, and they can't think of a better way to end the day than to sit by the fire, sipping champagne and talking about anything and everything under the moon.

Sonny can't lie here. This is honestly the happiest he's felt out of all four weddings. Those wedding bells have never sounded louder than they have with Will.


	22. Tell Me You Love Me

Before anyone can blink, the wedding day has arrived. And, as to be expected, it's a madhouse.

The church is completely crowded, by tourists, guests, and reporters alike.

One reporter from Chicago is speaking into a camera now,

“Wedding bells are ringing today here in Salem, Illinois. Sonny Kiriakis, always a groom, never a groom’s man, is attempting to complete his fourth wedding. We'll return with more as the story unfolds.”

Another reporter comments on the crowd,

“The quiet town of Salem, Illinois has never seen a turnout quite like this, the likes of which is usually saved for royalty, or even a Hollywood movie star. But today, all eyes are on Sonny Kiriakis, Salem's very own celebrity.”

The spectacle has become so huge, there's even a few food trucks and t shirt stands set up for people outside.

Yet another reporter starts her take on the story,

“Will he or won't he? That is the million dollar question on everyone's minds here today, and even on the mind of groom number 4, Will Horton, who is actually currently missing in action.”

Sonny, meanwhile, is freaking himself out, because while it may be bad luck to see his fiance before the actual wedding, he can't help but panic at the thought that he doesn't know where exactly he is.

“Shit. He's not coming. He's gonna stand me up.” He says out loud, only in jeans, an undershirt and a dress shirt, sans blazer.

Chad assures him, “Don't be ridiculous. Of course he's gonna show. It's his wedding too, you know. And you know what? I saw 8 geese flying in a 'V’ before I rushed over here!”

Sonny doesn't have time for Chad's superstitions, “You and your geese. Everyone sees geese!”

Chad insists, “Not 8, or in a V!”

Sonny tries to let this assure him, “Eight’s better, isn't it?”

Chad goes on, “8 in a V! What are the odds!”

Sonny plays along to distract himself, “V for...for…aha! Victory!”

Chad, pleased Sonny managed to cheer himself up, agrees, “Nice! See?”

Abi pipes up his own, “Velcro?”

Sonny's not as enthusiastic about that one, “Okaaay.”

Chad tries to help here, “Velcro! As in stuck together!”

But then he ruins it when he adds, “Virginal!”

Sonny's quick to shut that down, “No, no.”

There's a small awkward silence, then Sonny focuses on a more pressing issue, “God, I'm sweating like a pig. I'm a wreck. Where's my bag?”

Apparently Chad and Abi didn't think of this, so they cover, “Put your head between your legs.” Yeah, exactly! Helps all the time.”

While Sonny does that, outside, another car has pulled up, and hooray, it's Will, here to tie the knot.

Chad sees this, and announces, “Oh, shit! He's here!”

Sonny immediately gets vertical again, giving himself a small head rush. “Ow! My head!”

But now that Will's here, he needs to get a move on getting the rest of his getup on.

“So good to kno- shit! Goddamnit! Who made this damn thing!” Sonny shouts as his frenzy makes it nearly impossible to tie his tie on.

Chad's right there to help clear his head, “Your tie is not strangling you!”

Sonny lets the words calm him down, nodding, “Okay okay.”

Chad keeps going, “Gotta calm down. Cause if you don't, we can't get your tuxedo on!”

That seems to have done the trick, cause Sonny jokes, “Guy can't get married in a polo shirt, can he?”

Chad can see how happy Sonny is here, so he tells him, “He's the one. He really is.”

Then Abi breaks the moment, rushing back in to tell them, “We gotta hurry up. Sunday school kids are gonna be coming in soon."

Will makes his way through the crowd, telling everyone, “Come on! Get outta here! Go back to Chicago. Nobody invited you!”

Once he makes it to the entrance, he persuades Mr. Pressman to put down his video camera, and tells the wedding video guy to just do whatever.

But then, amidst all this madness, who does he see but Gabi and T!

Will rushes inside and grabs Gabi in a hug, “Oh thank God. Friends!”

Will steps back, telling them, “Thanks for making the journey. Since we're friends, T, be my best man.”

T agrees, “Not sure I'll be the best, but I'm sure I'll be good.”

Will directs him over to the pastor, and once he's walked away, Will muses out loud, “Now if only someone could tell me what I'm supposed to be doing.”

Gabi is still looking at the tux Will's wearing, “You always did look good in that one. I'm proud of you, Will.”

Gabi pulls him in for a hug, whispering, “I got a car out back for you in case he makes a run for it.”

That kind of stings, even though he knows Gabi is only trying to help.

But then he's got bigger problems, as once Gabi walks away, Paul pops up out of nowhere, walking straight towards him.

Will backs away, despite being taller, cause he really doesn't need another injury to the head.

When Paul reaches out a hand, Will flinches, thinking Paul's gonna punch him again, but once he takes a second, he realizes Paul's holding out a flower for his boutonniere. “I won't sugar coat it. You look awful.”

Seeing that Paul's not gonna give him a shiner on his wedding day, he takes it, trying to figure out where to put the damn thing, “Thanks.”

Paul takes it back, helping him, “Will, truth be told, I'm actually glad it's you.”

This is definitely a surprise to Will, “Really?”

Paul tells him, “Last thing I would have wanted was to find out I wasn't the one for him right when I was sure he was gonna be the one to knock it out of the park.” once the flower’s secure, Paul squeezes Will's shoulder.

Will asks, “Any advice, Coach?”

Paul does the 'Im watching you’ hand signal, telling him, “Eyes on the prize. Eye contact.”

Will repeats it to himself, making it a mantra as Paul walks away, “Eye contact.”

At the entrance, Sonny's fully decked out in his tux, standing in front of a fan in an attempt to get rid of some of the sweat.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Trout keeps going nuts trying to get rid of any fluff that might have made it onto Will's jacket, pulling a small hair from T's neck, before Will tells her to scram. A futile attempt, because she tries to shove a handkerchief into T's pocket. Finally, once Will shoves her away, she takes the hint and goes to sit down.

Back at the entrance, Victor and Justin are ready to start, Victor hugging Sonny, and Justin telling him, “I'm really rooting for this one, son.”

Which does absolutely nothing for Sonny's nerves, and Sonny tells him, “Alright, Dad.”

Will, attempting to calm himself, observes Paul going to sit by Derrick, the very cute bellhop from his hotel. Will's only spoken to him briefly in passing, but it looks like they're getting pretty comfortable talking to each other.

The sight surprises Will, but supposes he shouldn't be surprised to know Derrick is gay. Look how long it took for him to figure that out. Good for Paul. Will hopes he'll be happy, regardless of who it's with.

Finally, it's time for the ceremony to begin, and Sonny turns the fan off, Chad straightening out his tie one more time. “Time to go, Sonny.”

Sonny shakes himself off, and tells them, “Don't saunter down the aisle. Make time. Just get there.”

Chad and Abi leave, taking their places.

And then, it's started. The organ plays, and Chad and Abi walk straight down the aisle, clearly having done this before. Chad gives Will a small wink before taking his place, and then it's Sonny's turn.

All are silent as they all stand up, turning to look, as the doors open for Sonny to make his entrance.

Sonny walks slowly but surely, and there's a collective gasp when it Sonny suddenly pauses, and Will desperately whispers to himself, “Come on, stay with me.”

But then Sonny starts walking again, smirking, letting Will know Sonny's just messing with him, and the guests chuckle upon this realization.

Finally, Sonny's made it to the altar, and the guests take their seats.

The pastor starts to speak, and in one of the pews, a guest tells the person next to him, “I snuck in a camera.” and snaps a photo of Sonny at the altar. Problem is, the camera has a flash, so it temporarily stuns Sonny and the wedding party.

It was the smallest thing, really, but apparently in Sonny's mind, that was enough. The radiant smile on his face is gone, and he starts backing away.

Will shock is unmistakable, saying a very audible, “No.”

But Sonny doesn't listen. He keeps going, and when he's halfway back, he turns himself around and makes a run for it.

“Don't!”

Will doesn't know what to do, now that he's the one getting left behind, so he shouts, “Block the doors!” in a desperate attempt to keep Sonny with him.

Two men comply, closing them shut, but all that does is have Sonny take a quick look around for another escape route, which is difficult, with everyone on their feet, talking, and to top it all off, Will rushing towards him, shouting,

“No, Sonny, don't!”

Finally, Sonny spots the stairs to the basement where the Sunday school classroom is, and starts making his way down it, only pausing when he feels Will attempt to grab his shoulder, then continuing his escape.

Sonny tells the kids Will has candy in his pockets in an attempt to slow Will down, but even when he hears Will shout, ”Sonny!” he doesn't stop, instead running straight across the room towards the window.

Will tries to catch up with him, but is immediately bombarded with kids trying to tackle him.

Will tries to get them to help him, telling them, “Not me! The other guy! Go get the other guy!”

But even when Will's managed to shake them off, it's still enough time for Sonny to open a window and climb out of it, yelling at a FedEx truck, “Wait!” and running straight for it.

When Will gets to the open window, he shouts, “Sonny!” loud enough for Sonny to hear him, but all Sonny does is climb onboard the truck, and tell the driver, “Go!”

Within seconds, the truck is driving away, with Sonny as a passenger.

Will scrambles out of the window, running after the truck, shouting, “Sonny! Sonny! Stop! Don't do it!”

Back at the church, Gabi and T are watching Will chase after Sonny.

Gabi coos, “He's chasing after him!”

T jokes, “And he's in fantastic shape.”

Faintly, they can hear Will shout, “Sonny! No, Sonny!”

Gabi wonders, “Where's he even going, anyway?”

T tells her, “Whenever it is, he'll definitely be there by 10:30 tomorrow.”

Will keeps up the pursuit, shouting, “Sonny! No!”

What Will can't see is Sonny's look of regret. But regret or not, he doesn't tell the truck to stop, jump off, or anything but just let the truck drive him away.

“Sonny! No! No! Sonny!”

Will manages to keep up with the truck for a few 20 or so feet, but finally, the truck turns the corner, and Will knows it's useless. Sonny's gone, having left him in the dust, just another tally on the groom roster.

Now that Sonny's gone, whatever adrenaline he'd been feeling, has suddenly left him, and he bends to put his hand on his knees to catch his breath.

And suddenly, all the reporters are there and in his face, wanting answers he doesn't have.

“Mr. Horton, what are you gonna do now?”

“How do you feel?”

“What are you gonna do next?”

“I know this must be horrible.”

But Will can only stand there staring at them, cause it's all just too much. Now he knows how the other grooms felt when they saw Sonny turn tail and run.

Except they never had a bunch of reporters in their faces, desperate to leech off anything they could get out of them. The whole thing’s just making Will even more pissed.

Finally, one reporter pushes to the front, and starts pushing them away.

“That’s enough. Leave the guy alone. Come on. Leave him alone."

Finally, Will just makes his way back to the church. Guess he'll be making use of Gabi’s car out back after all.


	23. Blue Eyes Blue

“Finally, in local news, the town mayor has asked that we please stop gossipping about last week's Sonny Kiriakis “almost wedding”. Back to you, Tom.”

Sonny’s just getting ready to close up shop, when Chad decides to make a surprise visit.

“Hey. You alright?”

Sonny turns, surprised, “Yeah, I'm great.”

Chad invites him, “I'm gonna close up for the night, wanna go for a drink?”

But amazingly, Sonny really doesn't really feel like going anywhere for a drink. “Nah. I'm just gonna finish up here and go home.”

Chad knows Sonny's still recovering from last week, so he decides to just let him be, telling him, “Alright.” then turning to go. But then, he seems to change his mind, coming over to him.

“You know something? I realized that I had that whole 8 geese in a V thing wrong. The V was supposed to be a W.” Chad explains, making two Vs with his hands, then joining them together into a W. “For…” he trails off, hoping Sonny catches on.

But Sonny's not too good with acronyms, so the poor guy’s clueless. “For w...what the hell are you trying to say here?”

Chad can hardly refrain from shouting his response, “Wedding, dumbass! All you gotta do is get the rest of your geese in a row!”, smacking him lightly upside the head.

Sonny gets what Chad is trying to say here, so he pats him on the shoulder, telling him, “Thanks, man.”

Chad goes stop leave again, but that whole thing makes Sonny realize something, “So you really think he-.”

“You're a quick study. A very quick study.” Chad says, smiling before finally leaving.

With Chad gone, Sonny looks back to the coffee mug filled with one of his own blends. But then, he keeps looking at it, and takes a sip. He lets the scent waft into his nose, letting it engulf him, and an idea starts to form.

The next few weeks or so are much like a montage.

On Will's side, many of his nights are spent just sitting on the couch, staring blankly out the window. T tries to call him to get him out of the house, but it's clear Will isn't in the mood.

On Sonny's, his nights are spent staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep.

But during the day, Sonny's now been inspired to start making more blends and possibly even think about selling them.

He tries to use his punching bag again, but it's cut short when he realizes he's actually crying.

He decides to go for a run instead. Maybe it'll help to understand this whole running thing.

Back in Chicago, Will's just crossing the street, but as he walks past a coffee shop, he spots something familiar. Upon closer inspection, he realizes he's right. Sonny's been here, and he's now selling his coffee blends, complete with the Sonny Side Up logo.

He knows he should be happy for the guy, but still, he can't help but feel hurt at knowing that Sonny's been here for business, but can't seem to make the time to at least try and apologize for breaking his heart.

In Salem, Sonny's kitchen is filled with the smell of cooked eggs. On the table, is several different types of eggs, from scrambled to poached.

“Alright. Let's do this.” He tells himself as he starts sampling each one, pausing to really taste them.

On one particular night, Will takes the long way home. He's nice enough to anyone that tries to talk to him, but it's pretty apparent that Will just wants to be alone.

Finally, he's back at his apartment, and unlocks the door. He plays his messages on his answering machine, but all that's on there is a dial tone. Weird. Must've been a wrong number.

Will goes about taking his jacket off, getting ready to settle down for the night. But when he turns on a light, he hears a voice he'd finally convinced himself he never wanted to hear again,

“Will.”

Will turns slowly, because he's scared if he goes quickly, this might turn out to be a figment of his imagination. But once he finally makes the full turn, he knows this is no dream.

Right there, sitting on his couch, is none other than Sonny Kiriakis.


	24. It Never Entered My Mind

Seeing Sonny just sitting there, after all this time, Will doesn't have the first clue how to act. So he just tries to make a joke, like his old self would've.

“Please don't tell me my landlord is another one of your admirers.”

Sonny looks a bit uncomfortable at that, but he just says,

“Just making friends with your artwork.”

But he knows he's deflecting, so he asks,

“Are you okay having me here?”

Will just gives a cold answer, "I don't really have a choice, do I?"

Sonny goes on, “I don't blame you for being pissed.”

Will says nothing, so Sonny tries again, “Or upset.” Still nothing. “Perturbed?” Nothing. “Irate.”

Will just turns on another light, and finally, Will speaks,

“What do you want, Sonny? You here on business? Saw your coffee blends. Taste even better than I remember them. Really.”

It's pretty obvious he's not talking about the coffee, but Sonny goes along with it,

“Always wanted to do-”

But Will just walks out of the room, opening the door to the balcony.

“Anyone tell you that you're a master of breaking and entering?” Will calls out.

When he's got some air flowing, Will decides enough's enough.

“So let's cut the crap and get right to the point. Why are you really here?”

Sonny knows he really needs to step up to the plate if he wants this to go well, so he does his best to work up all the courage he has, and begins,

“I thought it was time I told you the truth about why I run, and in two cases, ride, away from things.”

Will has to sit down hearing that, cause this is definitely not something he was prepared to be hit with. And what does it really matter anymore, anyway? Sonny still ran.

“Does it matter?”

Sonny nods, telling him, “I wouldn't be here if it didn't.”

Sonny clears his throat, and starts with the first three grooms, “When I got all the way down the aisle, it was alongside the same person I've been dating my whole life. Admittedly, there were some things about them that I did love, but the truth is, the only reason we'd made it that far was because I never gave the other groom reason to believe we weren't gonna work out. And that's mostly on me. So in a sense, me running was the right thing to do, because neither of us deserved to start a marriage based on something you could find with a one night stand.”

Sonny pauses for this next part, cause no matter what, admitting something like this is never easy, “That is, until you showed up. You managed to figure out in like a week what 4 previous fiances never even bothered to.”

Will's head is spinning from hearing all this, so he just says quietly, “Yeah. I did.”

Sonny goes on, cause this is important, “But I didn't.”

Will has to remind him, because he doesn't think that will ever stop hurting, “And yet, I still managed to get a run in while chasing a truck.”

Will gets up then, cause all of this is making him feel suffocated, so he steps outside onto the balcony.

Sonny gets up then, slowly following him, telling him,

“Well, I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do about the truck part, but.” Sonny waits until he's standing right next to Will and looking right at him when he says this next part,

“Benedict.”

Will's thrown here, so he tries to fill in the blank, "Arnold.”

“I love eggs Benedict. I can't stand any other type of egg.”

That's when it clicks for Will. Sonny actually figured out what eggs he liked because he pointed it out. For him.

But Sonny goes back to talking about weddings, “Also, turns out I actually can't stand church weddings. If I'm gonna get married, I just want it in my own house. And if we're riding off into the sunset, we're flying commercial."

Will has to stop himself from laughing at the absurdity of all this, “Am I supposed to be writing this down?”

Then Sonny remembers something, “Actually, there's something else.” and goes back inside to grab whatever it is.

Will protests, “Just tell me! Don't-.” But it's pointless, cause Sonny's already walked away. “Okay.”

When Sonny comes back outside, he's holding a shoebox, “I'd like you to have these.” Sonny says, handing it to him.

Will opens it, and sure enough, there's a pair of old running shoes in the box. “Used-?”

Sonny quickly explains, “They're mine, obviously. It's supposed to be a symbolic gesture. Me, turning in my running shoes to you.”

Will makes a joke here, because he just has to, “This is serious, isn't it?”

Sonny tells him, “Oh, and one more thing. I know, after all this, there's still more. But I-I kinda need you to sit down for this.”

Will complies, not really seeing a reason not to.

Sonny takes the shoebox back, saying, “Can't have these ruining the moment.” and setting them aside.

But suddenly, Sonny Kiriakis is a bundle of nerves for several seconds, before he does something Will was definitely not expecting; he gets down on one knee, directly in front of Will.

Immediately, Will knows where this is going, and starts shaking his head. “Oh no. Good god, no.”

But Sonny can't have that, “No, no! This is good, I promise. Gimme a chance. Please? And pay close attention, cause it happens once in a lifetime, and this is definitely my first time. You don't want to miss that, do you?”

Will looks at Sonny, and with a start, he realizes he actually is serious. Though he won't admit it out loud, all of Sonny's talking has actually softened him up a bit. What the hell. He can listen to Sonny for a little bit more. He looks right at Sonny, patiently waiting for Sonny to continue.

“I love you, William Robert Horton. Will you do me the honor of becoming my husband?”

Will thought he was ready for it, but looking in Sonny's eyes, and seeing how much love is in them, along with those heartfelt words, words not typically associated with Sonny Kiriakis, he's completely stunned.

But then Will laughs, cause he has to cut the tension somehow. It's all just way too much too soon, and he tells Sonny that.

“I really, really need to think about this.”

But Sonny's just full of surprises tonight, cause he gets up and says, “Oh thank God. I was actually hoping you'd say that.”

That throws Will for a loop, “What? You were not!”

Sonny tells him, “No, I was! Cause if you'd said yes right away, I wouldn't be able to do this next part. And I've been practicing too, just to make sure I get this right.”

Sonny goes to grab a chair and pulls it up until it's directly across from Will, and takes a seat.

“You ready?” Sonny asks, cause despite everything he's said, he doesn't want to overwhelm Will if he's not ready.

But Will just nods, “I'm listening."

And then, when Sonny speaks, Will has a serious case of deja vu, 

"I want everyone to know that out of everyone on this planet, the most amazing person I've ever had the privilege of knowing wants to be with me. And even if it's over within a year, or the next few minutes, there's nothing that would make me happier.”

Will is completely blown away by how confident Sonny sounded, but he still has to take a crack at him, “Pretty good speech, Sonny. You come up with that on your own?”

Sonny says, “Nope. Borrowed it from a reporter I've gotten to know over this past week or so.”

But then the joking is over, and they're both pretty close to each other, and Sonny can't stand not having his answer anymore. “So?”

But Will just pats his hand, and stands up, gesturing for Sonny to stay put for a moment, and walks back inside.

Sonny's crushed, thinking this is Will's rejection, but then he sees Will turn on some music, and comes back to Sonny, holding out his hand,

“Care to dance with me?"

Sonny takes Will's hand, not sure what Will's doing, but desperate to be close to him.

For a moment, Sonny thinks Will's gonna kiss him. But Will just moves to Sonny's shoulder, and leads him in a slow dance.

The dance only goes on for a few minutes, but for them, it feels like time's ceased to exist for the moment, and somewhere, in that moment, they know in their hearts the only way this could end.

They hear Will's Grandma Marlena right in front of them, in the Kiriakis mansion with just their families.

“We're gathered here today to celebrate the union of Jackson Kiriakis and William Horton.”

Sonny walks up then, in a tuxedo Will's never seen before, but there's something about it that looks like it was made for him.

Marlena asks, “Do you have the rings?”

Will confirms, “Yes.", holding them up.

Marlena continues, “Do you, Will, take Sonny to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

Will looks down to slide the ring on Sonny's finger, as he says, “I do.”

Marlena addresses Sonny next, “Do you, Sonny, take Will to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

This is it. The moment of truth. He's here with the man he loves, the man he knows he's meant to be with, and there's nothing left for him to doubt.

But still, it's like the universe gives a collective sigh of relief when Sonny finally says, “I do.”

Marlena then says, “In this life that you share together, may your differences strengthen your love. By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you married. You may now kiss.”

This kiss is definitely one of legends. It's everything their previous kisses were, and more. It's the kiss that officially takes Sonny Kiriakis off market, but more than that, it's the one that solidifies their marriage once and for all.

Clapping erupts, as the guests all give thema standing ovation.

With that, they run down the aisle, out the doors, and straight towards a rental car, parked outside, get in, and drive away.

Meanwhile, Chad puts in a call to all the people that couldn't make the ceremony.

“He did it!”

All over Salem and Chicago, the news spreads like wildfire.

Father Mackenzie tells the choir, “Sonny Kiriakis got married.” And that prompts them to burst out into a chorus of , “Hallelujah.”

In the bar where Will first got the story, all the patrons cheer, popping champagne and congratulating over the phone.

Martha Trout goes a bit nuts, throwing flour everywhere, but she can't help but be excited to hear the good news.

Gabi and T are on their phones talking, but take a moment to pause and kiss before going back to their conversation.

Paul's having a blast with Derrick, and they jump into a big hug.

As for Will and Sonny, they'd both gone through some seriously difficult times, had a few personal growths, and somehow, still made it to the end right where they were supposed to: with each other.

And it truly is happily ever after, or as close as either of them ever could've hoped to get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! I found a gif with Chandler! Enjoy! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Comments comments comments!


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